Historic Moon mission Artemis II splashes down to Earth after epic voyage

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Using the Moon’s gravity for a “free” return journey, it took the crew four days to get back to Earth after it created history on their pass behind the Moon.

The four astronauts on the first manned Moon mission in more than 50 years; commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen travelled 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometres) from Earth.

\The navy’s USS John P Murtha met the capsule after it landed at 7.07pm local time.

Once through re-entry, Orion deployed its parachutes – two drogue parachutes to first slow the capsule, before pilot and main parachutes were deployed to reduce its speed to about 17mph for splashdown.

Nasa said the four crew members were in good health after returning safely to Earth.

Cheers erupted from the crew’s families watching in Mission Control in Houston when the capsule emerged from the communication blackout and at splashdown.

More than an hour after landing in the Pacific Ocean, the four crew members emerged from the capsule ahead of being taken to the nearby naval ship USS John P Murtha by helicopter.

Refusing the wheelchairs offered to them, the astronauts walked across the deck and after undergoing initial medical checks on board, they were expected to return to Johnson Space Centre in Houston on Saturday.

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As the Orion capsule hurtled through the Earth's atmosphere, the crew experienced a temporary communication blackout.

This normal stage of re-entry meant the crew were unable to contact mission control for six minutes.

"We have you loud and clear," Commander Reid Wiseman confirmed after re-establishing contact with mission control.

The historic record was achieved during a seven-hour lunar flyby which included a 40-minute communication blackout as they passed around the far side of the Moon from Earth.

The astronauts asked Nasa if they could name two newly observed lunar craters Integrity, after the capsule of their Orion spacecraft, and Carroll in honour of the late wife of Commander Reid Wiseman. She died of cancer in 2020.

The crew module separated from the service module about 30 minutes before splashdown.

The service module, which housed the engines used to steer the spacecraft and propel it through space, then burned up safely in the atmosphere.

Its separation exposed the heat shield, which protected the crew module from the extreme temperatures of re-entry, which can reach about 1,600C.

Speaking to LBC News about the re-entry process, Colonel Chris Hadfield, a retired astronaut and former commander of the international space station, described it as an "amazing 30 minutes".

He said: "It's an amazing transition from the effortless, graceful, almost ballet like weightlessness of living in space to then just encountering the upper wisps of the atmosphere.

"If you hold up a pen, then you watch it, and now it very gently starts to fall to the floor as the air starts to hold you up. And then that builds and builds until your whole body is now being pushed down into your chair. And then twice your body weight. And then as if there's three of you on top of you lying there.

"And then four times your body weight until it's hard to even breathe as this unseen hand is crushing you.

"And then the flames are licking around the vehicle. You can see the yellow and the orange and the red of the fire, of that incredible heat of re-entry.

"And assuming the heat shield protects you properly, then you come out the other side, you slow down some more little chutes, little parachutes, drag out the big parachutes, and then you are like a seed under a seed pod, a little gossamer dandelion floating to earth.

"And you belly flop into the ocean and the rescue divers are there and you're home. It's an amazing 30 minutes."

US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social the “entire trip was spectacular”, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated the crew on “an historic feat”.

Nasa associate administrator Amit Kshatriya said the craft’s systems had “performed as designed”.

He said: “This moment belongs to the thousands of people across 14 countries who built, tested, and trusted this vehicle.

“Artemis II proved the vehicle, the teams, the architecture, and the international partnership that will return humanity to the lunar surface.

“Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy carried the hopes of this world farther than humans have travelled in more than half a century

.“Fifty‑three years ago, humanity left the Moon. This time, we returned to stay. The future is ours to win.”

The Artemis II crew travelled 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometres) from Earth, smashing the distance milestone of 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometres) previously held by the Apollo 13 crew for 56 years.

Their epic voyage took them around the far side of the Moon, normally hidden to the human eye, which included a 40-minute communication blackout when they were cut off entirely from their home planet.

Alongside their other duties, it provided the opportunity for the team to take some spectacular pictures of the Moon and Earth, including a total solar eclipse.

The Goonhilly Earth Station, near Helston, in Cornwall, helped track the flight.The last time Nasa sent astronauts to the Moon was as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.The agency is seeking to return a crew to the lunar surface by 2028, before China does in about 2030.