WASHINGTON DC: The Artemis II astronauts have safely returned to Earth, concluding their nine-day mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean just after 01:07 BST (20:07 EDT).
Mission commander Reid Wiseman confirmed that all crew members are in good health following the landing. The return included a routine but tense six-minute communications blackout during atmospheric re-entry, BBC reported.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman hailed the mission as a major milestone, stating, “We are back to sending astronauts to the Moon—this is only the beginning.”
During the mission, the spacecraft reached a record-breaking distance of 406,771 kilometers (252,756 miles) from Earth during its lunar flyby—the farthest humans have ever traveled into space.
Astronauts experienced a strong impact upon splashdown, followed by disorienting motion in ocean waves, which experts say can be one of the most challenging parts of the return phase.
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