HISTORIC JOURNEY
From liftoff to splashdown, the trip clocked in at nine days, one hour, 31 minutes and 35 seconds — though NASA rounds up and calls it a 10-day mission.
It began with a dramatic launch from Florida on April 1, and was studded with firsts, records and extraordinary moments.
It was the inaugural crewed mission of NASA’s program aiming to install a sustained presence on the Moon, including, as administrator Isaacman emphasized, the eventual construction of a base.
US President Donald Trump praised the astronauts for their “spectacular” trip and said he “could not be more proud” — while wasting no time in looking ahead to the eventual goal of sending missions to Mars.
“I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon. We’ll be doing it again and then, next step, Mars!” he wrote on social media.
The second phase of the Artemis program was a test mission to verify the reliability of the Orion capsule, which before now had not carried humans.
The voyage also broke a record: the four astronauts became the first humans to travel furthest away from the Earth, at 406,771 kilometres (252,756 miles).
While hurtling through deep space and zipping around the Moon the astronauts took thousands of photographs, amassing a stunning portfolio of images that captivated people on Earth.
They also witnessed a solar eclipse along with extraordinary meteorite strikes on the lunar surface that had left NASA scientists awe-struck.
Several achievements added to the voyage’s historic nature: Glover was the first person of color to fly around the Moon, Koch was the first woman, and Canadian Hansen the first non-American.
VITAL HEAT SHIELD
The Orion capsule passed a key test: the re-entry stakes were particularly high given concerns that arose during Artemis I, when an uncrewed 2022 test flight to the Moon and back saw a crucial heat shield erode in unexpected ways.
To minimise risks this time around, NASA shifted the re-entry path they had used in the test mission, after determining it had played a role in the complications.
The astronauts returned at a steeper and thus shorter trajectory, which NASA officials, in discussion with the astronauts, concluded would reduce risk to an acceptable degree.
Still, the heat shield situation prompted uneasy comparisons to the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters of 1986 and 2003 respectively, when astronauts died after warning signs were set aside.
But to the relief of NASA, the astronauts and their families along with the public at large, Artemis II completed a successful trip home, returning four still-healthy astronauts.
The Orion capsule will now be painstakingly examined to assess how it fared.
Loved ones were watching the journey home from mission control in Houston, where the astronauts are due to reunite with their families, likely this weekend.
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