NASA’s Artemis II astronauts successfully splashed down off the coast of California after completing a historic nearly 10-day journey around the Moon — the first mission of its kind in more than half a century.
Details
The Artemis II mission launched on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Space Launch System rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft in the first crewed test flight of the Artemis program.
During the mission:
- The spacecraft traveled more than 694,000 miles in total
- It reached a maximum distance of around 252,756 miles from Earth, breaking the record previously set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970
- The spacecraft underwent extensive operational testing, including manual control and life-support system checks
- Scientific experiments were conducted, along with imaging during the lunar flyby, including close passes over the Moon’s surface
- More than 7,000 images were captured of the lunar surface and surrounding space phenomena
- Medical and biological studies examined how deep space affects the human body, supporting preparation for longer missions and future lunar landings
What’s next?
Attention now turns to NASA’s preparations for Artemis III, which will test lunar landing operations using new systems as part of plans to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon.
