Artemis II Crew to Return on April 10 After Historic Journey Around the Moon

NASA’s Artemis II crew is on the final leg of their 10‑day mission, preparing to return to Earth after traveling farther from home than any human in history. The four astronaut team, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen launched on April 1 aboard the Orion spacecraft for a sweeping journey around the Moon, marking the first crewed deep‑space flight in more than five decades.

After completing their lunar flyby earlier in the week, Orion is now on its homeward trajectory. The spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 8:07 pm ET on April 10, off the coast of San Diego. Recovery forces from the US Navy and NASA will retrieve the crew shortly after landing.

During the mission, Artemis II carried its crew to a maximum distance of more than 252,000 miles from Earth, surpassing the Apollo 13 record and demonstrating Orion’s capability for future lunar‑landing missions. The flight served as a full‑scale test of life‑support systems, navigation, communications, and high‑speed reentry performance—critical steps before NASA attempts to land astronauts on the lunar surface under Artemis III.

NASA officials have emphasized that Artemis II is not only a technical demonstration but a symbolic return to deep space exploration. The mission marks the first time a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian astronaut have traveled on a lunar‑bound trajectory, reflecting the agency’s commitment to broader representation in human spaceflight.

As the crew prepares for reentry, NASA teams in Houston and aboard the recovery vessel are finalizing procedures for the spacecraft’s high‑speed descent through Earth’s atmosphere, parachute deployment, and ocean landing.

NASA officials expressed excitement as the mission nears its conclusion, noting that the crew is returning from a journey that pushes the boundaries of human exploration. After splashdown, the astronauts will undergo medical checks before returning to Houston.

With Artemis II’s successful completion, NASA moves one step closer to returning humans to the Moon’s surface for the first time since 1972.