Artemis II ends its historic lunar journey

Artemis II ends its historic lunar journey Skip to content Subscribe today Every print subscription comes with full digital access Subscribe Now Menu All Topics Health Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology View All Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes View All Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment View All Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics View All Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology View All Magazine Menu All Stories Multimedia Reviews Puzzles Collections Educator Portal Century of Science Unsung characters Coronavirus Outbreak Newsletters Investors Lab About SN Explores Our Store SIGN IN Donate Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 SIGN IN Search Open search Close search Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 All Topics Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology Tech Computing Artificial Intelligence Chemistry Math Science & Society All Topics Health Humans Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Recent posts in Humans Science & Society Snippets of hair may expose chronic stress in war refugees By Sujata GuptaApril 6, 2026 Health & Medicine When our minds wander to the body, it may affect mental health By Diana KwonApril 3, 2026 Health & Medicine Supreme Court ruling on ‘conversion therapy’ puts medical talk in the hot seat By Aimee CunninghamApril 3, 2026 Life Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Recent posts in Life Neuroscience Seeing and imagining activate some of the same brain cells By Diana KwonApril 9, 2026 Paleontology Mummified reptile hints at the origins of how we breathe By Carolyn GramlingApril 8, 2026 Paleontology The ‘oldest fossil octopus’ is probably another animal By Jake BuehlerApril 7, 2026 Earth Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Recent posts in Earth Climate Emperor penguins are marching toward extinction. 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NASA By Lisa Grossman April 10, 2026 at 11:00 am Updated April 10, 2026 at 8:41 pm Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print Even when you’re one of the first people to go to the moon in half a century, there’s no place like home.  Artemis II has reached the end of its historic lunar flyby. The Orion space capsule and its four astronauts splashed down off the coast of San Diego on April 10 at 8:07 p.m. Eastern.  “A perfect bulls-eye splashdown. All four crew members are in excellent shape,” said NASA commentator Rob Navais. “It was for all intents and purposes a textbook mission.”. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. Reentering Earth’s atmosphere gave the Orion capsule its most harrowing test yet. The capsule touched the atmosphere for the first time since launch at 7:53 p.m. at an altitude of about 122 kilometers and moving more than 38,000 kilometers per hour.  “What a journey,” said mission commander Reid Wiseman moments after splashdown. The overall flight plan was not that different from those of the Apollo missions, said Artemis II flight director Jeff Radigan in an April 9 news briefing. “Big picture, coming back from the moon is all really close to the same thing,” he said. “It parallels Apollo much more than it does some of our low-Earth orbit returns.” Shortly after reentry began, the crew was out of contact with mission control for about six minutes. The friction of the atmosphere heated Orion’s heatshield to nearly 2800° Celsius, creating a layer of superheated plasma that blocked communication from the spacecraft. From launch to splashdown, the Artemis II mission lasted 9 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes and 15 secondsNASA NASA engineers will be keeping a close eye on how the heat shield behaved. When the uncrewed Artemis I mission’s Orion capsule came back to Earth in December 2022, the heat shield returned unexpectedly scorched. Chunks of material were missing and other parts were cracked.  After an extensive investigation, NASA announced in 2024 that the cause of the charring was a buildup of gases that became trapped under an outer layer of material called Avocat, designed to decompose and carry heat away from the spacecraft. Instead of redesigning the heat shield itself, NASA redesigned the spacecraft’s reentry trajectory to lower the heat stress on the shield. At an altitude of 7.6 kilometers, Orion deployed a series of 11 parachutes to slow it down to about 30 km/h for splashdown. Once in the water, five orange airbags filled with helium to help the capsule stay upright and let the astronauts emerge onto a large raft called the front porch. From there, the astronauts are making their way back to Houston by helicopter, boat and airplane. “From the pages of Jules Verne to a modern day mission to the moon, a new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete,” commentator Navais said. “Integrity’s astronauts back on Earth.” Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ About Lisa Grossman E-mail X Lisa Grossman is the astronomy writer. She has a degree in astronomy from Cornell University and a graduate certificate i