PACIFIC OCEAN — The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at 8:07 p.m. ET on April 10, 2026, completing a nine-day crewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft. The landing marked the first human trip beyond low Earth orbit since 1972.

The crew — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch — launched on April 1, 2026. The mission was the first time people had flown aboard Orion, and Hansen became the first person not from the United States to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

During the flight, the crew traveled more than a quarter-million miles from Earth, farther than any humans in history. The spacecraft reached approximately 4,000 miles from the Moon and looped around its far side. The trajectory caused the Moon to pass between Orion and the Sun, creating an eclipse during the flyby, with only about 20 percent of the far side illuminated. The astronauts captured lunar images and transmitted some via Orion's laser communications link, while experiencing a 40-minute radio blackout out of contact with Earth.

"I'm actually getting chills right now just thinking about it. My palms are sweating," Wiseman said. "But it is amazing to watch your home planet disappear behind the Moon. You can see the atmosphere. You could actually see the terrain on the Moon projected across the Earth as the Earth was eclipsing behind the Moon."

Glover described the lunar surface. "There were holes, craters that appeared to be just endless, bottomless pits, and then peaks that seemed to be, I couldn't tell how high," he said. "When that actually happened, it just blew us all away."

Mission specialist Christina Koch described life aboard the capsule. "We have loved living in Orion," she said. "I will miss this camaraderie. I will miss being this close with this many people and having a common purpose, a common mission."

The capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour before slowing to 19 miles per hour for splashdown. NASA flew Orion at a different reentry angle to ease thermal stress on the heat shield, after the unpiloted Artemis I test flight showed charring on the shield. Three main parachutes deployed to slow the descent. A U.S. Navy recovery ship retrieved the capsule, and the crew was flown by helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha.

The astronauts experienced difficulty walking after nine days in microgravity. The crew used a flywheel device aboard Orion for aerobic and resistance workouts during the flight. With Artemis II, the number of living people who have traveled to the vicinity of the Moon nearly doubled; five of the 24 astronauts who previously flew to the Moon are still alive, four of whom walked on its surface. The mission is designed to prepare for future crewed landings near the Moon's south pole and construction of a lunar base.