Artemis II astronauts return home, ending historic NASA mission around the moon

SpaceArtemis II astronauts return home, ending record-breaking NASA mission around the moonAfter a fiery trip through Earth’s atmosphere that lasted nearly 15 minutes, the crew's Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just after 8 p.m. ET on Friday.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleArtemis II splashes down in Pacific Ocean after 10-day mission00:46Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 10, 2026, 10:39 PM EDT / Updated April 10, 2026, 11:05 PM EDTBy Denise ChowThe four Artemis II astronauts are back safely on Earth after flying around the moon on NASA’s first lunar mission in more than 50 years.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.After a fiery trip through Earth’s atmosphere that lasted nearly 15 minutes, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego in their Orion capsule at 8:07 p.m. ET.“Y’all, we did it,” Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said Friday in a post-landing news briefing. “We sent four amazing people to the moon and safely returned them to Earth for the first time in more than 50 years.”It was a picture-perfect splashdown, with the capsule landing upright under three huge parachutes as recovery teams raced to the scene.Minutes before, a six-minute communications blackout with mission controllers made for a nail-biting finish to the mission as the capsule plunged through Earth’s atmosphere. Then, a very welcome call-out came over the airwaves.“Houston, Integrity, we have you loud and clear,” Wiseman radioed to Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, using the name “Integrity” that the crew gave to their spacecraft.NASA's Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor G...