Overview
- The Orion capsule splashed down off San Diego on Friday after a nearly 10‑day loop around the Moon, and the four astronauts were welcomed home in Houston the next day.
- The flight was the first crewed trip beyond low Earth orbit since 1972 and a free‑return flyby that set a new human distance mark of about 252,756 miles while delivering views from the Moon’s far side.
- Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen described a powerful shared experience and named new far‑side features, including a crater honoring Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.
- The crew took some photos on iPhone 17 Pro Max handsets that NASA cleared in February for photography and video only, and Apple’s Tim Cook and Greg Joswiak publicly praised the images after splashdown.
- NASA says Artemis III will practice docking Orion with a lander in Earth orbit next year, with SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon working to be ready for later lunar landing attempts.