Artemis II Crew Returns Safely to San Diego Coast

The crew of Artemis II successfully splashed down after a momentous 10-day journey around the moon. The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by its four-person team, re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and landed off the coast of San Diego shortly after 5 PM PT.

NASA reported that the re-entry was executed smoothly, described as a “textbook entry.” All crew members—Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, and Reid Wiseman—were reported to be in “excellent shape” following their historic mission, as confirmed during a livestream by the agency.

During re-entry, the spacecraft detached from its service module and accelerated toward Earth at a speed of 24,000 miles per hour. At an altitude of 12,000 feet, a sequence of 11 parachutes deployed, reducing the capsule’s speed from several hundred miles per hour to a gentle 17 to 20 mph in preparation for its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The Artemis II mission, which launched on April 1, surpassed the Apollo 13 mission’s record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth, reaching a total of 252,756 miles.