Overview
- The four‑astronaut crew completed a near‑10‑day loop around the Moon and splashed down Friday, April 10, then arrived in Houston on Saturday for reconditioning, debriefs, and a Thursday, April 16, postflight news conference.
- The mission met its core test goals by proving Orion’s life‑support, manual piloting, trajectory adjustments, and high‑speed reentry with a safe recovery.
- Artemis II reached 252,760 miles from Earth, set a new human distance record, captured first‑time views of the Moon’s far side, and witnessed a total solar eclipse from lunar orbit.
- NASA is pivoting to Artemis III, which will rehearse docking Orion with one or more lunar landers in Earth orbit, with docking hardware already at Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX and Blue Origin preparing vehicles.
- The crew also marked new milestones for lunar travel in this era, including the first woman, the first person of color, and the first non‑U.S. citizen to journey to the Moon.