Artemis II re-entry: Artemis II astronauts return to Earth, splashdown successful

Aircraft captured data and imagery of the heat shield during the Integrity capsule’s descent and Navy divers have already inspected the shield, NASA executives have said at a news conference.

Two heat shield experts are on board the USS John P Murtha warship ready to scrutinise the shield, too, once the capsule is hauled aboard.

“We also captured a lot of great imagery,” Orion program manager Howard Hu said.

“Obviously, we haven’t had time to digest all that data, but we will in the next several days and make sure we understand if there’s anything that happened that was anomalous.”

NASA flight director for Artemis II Rick Henfling has supplied updated stats from the mission:

• The four astronauts flew a total of 1,126,922 kilometres.
• The spacecraft reached a peak velocity of 39,693km/h.
• The spacecraft hit the flight path within 0.4 per cent of the target angle.
• The Integrity crew capsule landed within a mile of the target.

NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya has dedicated the day to the engineers and technicians who built the Orion spacecraft, from the heat shield’s welders to the people who packed the parachutes.

He said:

What stands in the way becomes the way. This program faced every obstacle an institution could face. The team met each one with work, and tonight is the proof that that work needs to continue.

The path to the lunar surface is open, but the work ahead is greater than the work behind us. It always will be. Fifty-three years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we return to stay.

Let us finish what they started. Let us focus on what was left undone. Let us not go to plant flags and leave, but to stay with firmness in our purpose, with gratitude for the hands who built the machines and with love for the ones that we carry with us.

Welcome home, Integrity.

Artemis II pilot Victor Glover flashes a smile and mission specialist Christina Koch pumps her first after landing in a military helicopter aboard the USS John P Murtha warship. It must feel good to be home!

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has greeted the four returned astronauts, who are now walking to the ship’s medical bay for testing.

Dramatic scenes have unfolded at the splashdown site, as military helicopters hoist each astronaut to a nearby Navy ship.

They’ll now be assessed within the ship’s medical bay.

As far as we know, all Artemis II crew members are safe and feeling excellent. It’s about two hours since they splashed back down to Earth.

“This has been a gift to the world from NASA,” says the agency’s associate administrator Amit Kshatriya.

“This is really about young people – when they see what we can do, when we work together, when we have teams that collaborate, you know, it doesn’t matter how hard the problems are – we can solve them.

“We’re at the point where the architects of Apollo would have been pleased that we’re now ready to actually go back to the moon – and go back to stay – because we’ve learned all the things we needed to learn.”

They’re out! Cheers have erupted at NASA’s mission control in Houston as the Artemis II astronauts climb out of the Integrity capsule.

Commander Reid Wiseman was the last to emerge after pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

Those shaky steps onto a Navy boat are their first since travelling 1,116,884 kilometres to the moon and back.

It’s impossible to believe the dome-shaped capsule they are climbing out of was, a short time ago, rocketing at 11 kilometres per second in the upper atmosphere and surrounded by a fireball of scorching plasma.

“The mission is over but the melody lingers on as jubilation continues here in the flight control room,” says the NASA broadcaster.