{"id":17030,"date":"2026-04-10T21:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/artemis-2-crew-makes-triumphant-splashdown-at-the-end-of-humanitys-first-trip-around-the-moon-since-1972\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T13:13:17","slug":"artemis-2-crew-makes-triumphant-splashdown-at-the-end-of-humanitys-first-trip-around-the-moon-since-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/artemis-2-crew-makes-triumphant-splashdown-at-the-end-of-humanitys-first-trip-around-the-moon-since-1972\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis 2 crew makes triumphant splashdown at the end of humanity\u2019s first trip around the moon since 1972"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft splashes into the Pacific Ocean, as seen in an overhead view. (NASA via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Four astronauts and their Orion space capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean today, bringing the first crewed trip around the moon and back since 1972 to a successful end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a journey!\u201d mission commander Reid Wiseman said moments after splashdown.<\/p>\n

During their 10-day odyssey, the crew of NASA\u2019s Artemis 2 mission \u2014 Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen \u2014 became the most distant human travelers in history, swinging more than 4,000 miles past the moon\u2019s far side. Koch is the first woman to venture beyond Earth orbit, Glover is the first Black astronaut to do so, and Hansen is the first non-U.S. astronaut to make such a trip.<\/p>\n

The flight tested the Artemis program\u2019s hardware and procedures to prepare the way for sending astronauts all the way to the lunar surface by as early as 2028, and for building a permanent lunar base in the 2030s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most important human spaceflight mission I think we\u2019ve done in many decades, in terms of what it meant historically, but also what it means for the future of the agency,\u201d NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said at a post-splashdown news conference.<\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s hardware \u2014 including components built in the Seattle area \u2014 came through when it counted. Two sets of thrusters for Orion were built by L3Harris\u2019 Aerojet Rocketdyne team in Redmond, Wash., while mechanisms that were made by Karman Space & Defense in Mukilteo, Wash., facilitated the safe deployment of Orion\u2019s parachutes in the mission\u2019s final minutes.<\/p>\n

NASA calculated that Orion traveled 700,237 miles in all, from its launch atop a massive Space Launch System rocket on April 1 to its splashdown off the coast of California at 5:07 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n

Textbook end to a history-making trip<\/h3>\n

The final hour of the mission unfolded as NASA planned. After jettisoning its European-built service module, the Orion crew module \u2014 christened Integrity by the astronauts \u2014 hit the atmosphere at a speed of more than 24,000 mph. The shock of re-entry created a plasma field around the spacecraft that blacked out radio communications for six minutes.<\/p>\n

The crew endured G-forces that ranged up to 3.9 times the force of Earth\u2019s gravity \u2014 about what they felt during launch \u2014 and Orion\u2019s heat shield endured temperatures of 4,000 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The trajectory for Orion\u2019s descent was designed to reduce the stress on the heat shield, after NASA discovered that the heat shield for an earlier uncrewed round-the-moon mission, Artemis 1, underwent more serious charring than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the true test of our trajectory,\u201d NASA commentator Rob Navias said.<\/p>\n

Orion passed the test: \u201cHouston, Integrity: We have you loud and clear,\u201d Wiseman told Mission Control when the blackout ended, sparking a cheer from ground controllers.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft\u2019s parachutes deployed on cue, and Orion\u2019s descent slowed to a speed of 19 mph by the time it hit the water in the Pacific southwest of San Diego. <\/p>\n

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