Artemis II crew had a ‘textbook touchdown’ off the coast of San Diego

All four NASA astronauts who completed the historic Artemis II lunar flyby mission have landed safely on Earth. They are in healthy shape, confirmed Commander Reid Wiseman.

The crew had a “textbook touchdown” about 50 miles off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean at 20:07 EDT. The Orion capsule reentered Earth’s atmosphere at about 25,000 mph, facing temperatures near 5,000°F—about half as hot as the sun’s surface.

Wiseman, along with pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, was on a 10-day journey to observe the far side of the Moon.

They were the first crewed journey to the Moon in over 50 years and reached a record distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the Apollo 13 crew’s 1970 record by about 4,101 miles.

During the mission, the astronauts conducted detailed examinations through sketches, photographs, and voice memos. The Artemis II voyage serves as a critical precursor to NASA’s broader goal of returning humans to the lunar surface by 2028.