Sunday, April 12, 2026

Artemis II crew return safely

Artemis II crew splashdown
Image – NASA / YouTube.

The Artemis II mission concluded successfully as NASA’s Orion capsule Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California after nearly 10 days in space, marking the first human journey to the vicinity of the moon in more than 50 years.

The four-member crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—travelled over 1.1 million kilometres, including a lunar flyby reaching about 405,000km from Earth, in a critical test ahead of planned lunar landings from 2028.

The mission’s safe return validated the spacecraft’s ability to endure extreme re-entry conditions, according to NASA, including temperatures nearing 2760°C and a temporary communications blackout caused by plasma buildup, before parachutes slowed the capsule for a controlled ocean landing and recovery by NASA and US Navy teams.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The “astronaut engineer” Christina Koch also appears on IMDb and is credited in Mad Max: Fury Road with the Vuvalini (Many Mothers) Same name, same credit.

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