NASA Artemis II descended into the Pacific Ocean and made a “safe” landing on the Moon mission

After 10 days, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft have returned to Earth, their mission to orbit the Moon a success.

Integrity, the name of the spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, splashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 pm Pacific Time, according to NASA. The four crew members on board – three Americans and one Canadian – were all “green” (or safe and sound) after the Orion’s “safe” landing.

The crew consisted of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. From takeoff to landing, the quartet was in place for more than nine days (where NASA went around calling it a 10-day mission).

Artemis II was NASA’s first mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The crew traveled farther from Earth than humans have ever been – reaching a distance of approximately 252,760 kilometers from our planet. During their journey, the crew circled the Moon, taking pictures from their flies of parts never before seen, and to witness a total eclipse. They discovered new craters, to name one after Wiseman Carroll’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.

“These were the astronauts we sent up there,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said after the landing. “I can’t think of a better team. It was a great job.”

Isaacman, a business entrepreneur who has been on two private tours, also went to X to celebrate the project and hinted that there is more to come, noting that America is back in business.

“America is back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon and bringing them home safely,” wrote on Xlater he gave credit to all NASA employees. “This was an experimental mission, the first manned flight of SLS and Orion, to push farther into the unforgiving space of space than ever before, and it had that real risk. He accepted that risk for all of us who stopped to learn and for the sake of the exciting missions that follow, as we return to the surface of the moon, build a base on the Moon, and prepare for what’s to come.”