9 highlights from Artemis II's epic journey around the moon

Space 9 highlights from Artemis II's epic journey around the moon By Luis Giraldo, Mark Osborne April 10, 2026 / 8:46 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google With a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening, the epic Artemis II moon mission came to an end.Americans have been tracking the progress of the four astronauts — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — as they looped around the moon, pushing deeper into space than anyone ever has before.Here are nine highlights from that groundbreaking trip. 1. Artemis II mission blasts off from Florida NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on a 10-day journey around the moon and back.  Aubrey Gemignani / NASA / Getty Images The rocket lifted off Wednesday, April 1, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. ET. The spectacular launch marked the first piloted moonshot since the end of the Apollo program 53 years ago. The Orion capsule and NASA's Space Launch System rocket had never flown with people aboard, and had made just one unmanned test flight. But the launch was picture perfect.2. Orion crew spends first day in space NASA's Orion spacecraft is pictured from one of the cameras mounted on its solar array wings on April 7. At the time this photo was taken at 8:33 a.m. ET, the Artemis II crew was in a sleep period. NASA via Getty Images The crew woke up to a busy first day, spending about 24 hours orbiting the Earth while they put their Orion capsule through its paces before NASA could give them the go-ahead for their trip around the moon. Glover also got a chance to test out the manual controls on the capsule ahead of future missions.About 90% of the Orion capsule's life-support system had never been tested before in space.  "We are going really, really far away. And that one 24-hour orbit gives us time to check out all of our environmental control, life support systems. ....