‘I’m at a loss for words’: Artemis II mission comes home with a ‘bullseye landing’ to joy and cheers after historic 10-day mission
THE Artemis II Mission ended in dramatic fashion on April 10, 2026, when NASA’s Orion spacecraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of San Diego, capping humanity’s first crewed trip to the Moon in more than 50 years.
The four-person crew, consisting of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, returned to Earth after a 10-day mission to test systems NASA plans to use for its future lunar expeditions. NASA said the water landing occurred to 8:07 p.m. EDT or 5:07 p.m. PST, with recovery operations led by the U.S. Navy’s USS John P. Murtha.
An extreme return to basics
Re-entry tends to be one of the most dramatic and dangerous parts of a mission, especially for Artemis II.
Unlike the International Space Station’s return missions, which begin in low Earth orbit and therefore do not need as much speed to return to Earth, Artemis II returned to Earth’s atmosphere from the Moon at near-record speeds. Orion returned to around 24,600 mph (39,600 kmh), approximately 24 times the speed of a bullet. This faster speed meant that the capsule’s heat shield lasted approximately twice the amount of heat than a spaceship returning from the ISS.
Unlike Artemis I, launched in 2022, Artemis II’s re-entry took a more direct path through the atmosphere due to concerns about the capsule’s heat shield. Ultimately, the shield withstood temperatures of up to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit – half the temperature of the sun – before Orion landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.
“Bullseye” landing ends historic mission
Re-entry couldn’t have gone smoother, NASA said, because Orion and its systems did exactly what they were designed to do. After six minutes of radio blackout, during which a cloud of superheated plasma enveloped the capsule, Orion appeared safely in a nearly cloudless sky.
Then, at 22,000 feet, the three main parachutes deployed, helping slow the crew module to a gentler 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) before the capsule landed in the ocean. As the astronauts emerged onto the floating recovery raft accompanied by U.S. Navy recovery divers, mission control in Houston erupted in loud cheers.
“I’m still at a loss for words,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during the NASA livestream. “Child, Jared can’t believe what I just saw. This is just the beginning, we’re going to start doing this with frequency again, sending missions to the moon until we land there in 2028 and start building our base.”
The crew of the Artemis II captivated millions of people around the world with their journey, return stunning imagesscientific insights, laughter and a few tears as they made history and laid the foundation for humanity’s return to the Moon.
“I took a brief moment to say a short prayer of gratitude for being sent on this mission and had the confidence to bring back scientifically relevant information,” Glover said shortly after the crew reappeared from their flyby behind the moon on Monday (April 6). “And I also felt like I was hoping that people would look up and look to see when we were coming back to communication, and that maybe there was a chance that people would feel a sense of unity.”
