Artemis II Crew Returns Safely in Successful Pacific Splashdown


In this view, most of the Moon’s surface is illuminated as captured by the Artemis II crew during their flyby. To support scientific analysis, the lunar science team requested a series of images of the same scene using different exposure settings—including overexposed, underexposed, and standard images. (NASA Photo)

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	NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot is assisted off the flight deck after arriving aboard USS John P. Murtha after he was extracted from the Orion spacecraft after splashdown, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
	Artemis II Crew Returns Safely After Trip Around The Moon and Pacific Splashdown Nilay Seetharaman - Space Technology Tell Us USA News Network SAN DIEGO - NASA’s Artemis II mission ended with a safe splashdown and recovery off the coast of Southern California, closing out a historic crewed flight around the Moon. The four astronauts returned aboard Orion after a multi-day mission that tested the spacecraft and recovery procedures needed for future lunar landings. Landing details Orion, named Integrity, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego at 5:07 p.m. PDT on April 10, 2026, after a high-speed reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. NASA said the crew consisted of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The landing capped a mission that took the crew farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled, a milestone NASA has said will help pave the way for future lunar missions. Coverage from the mission described the descent as a “bullseye landing” and reported that the crew was in good shape after touchdown. Recovery operation After splashdown, recovery teams moved in by helicopter and Navy ship to secure the capsule and retrieve the astronauts. Reports said the crew was transported to the USS John P. Murtha after a preliminary medical check and extraction from the capsule. NASA and Navy personnel also used recovery rafts and divers as part of the operation, which was designed to get the crew out of Orion quickly and safely. The recovery sequence was described as proceeding in under two hours from splashdown to full retrieval. Why it matters Artemis II was a crucial test flight for NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually support longer-term exploration. The safe landing and recovery showed that the spacecraft, parachutes, reentry profile, and recovery teams all performed as intended.