ALERT: Artemis II: the successful closure of a 10-day lunar feat
According to recent reports, the following story has emerged from the international scene.
The splashdown on Friday, April 10, of the Artemis II mission capsule over the Pacific Ocean was called—without further adjectives—a perfect splashdown. The mission, which spanned 10 days in orbit of the Moon, was the longest and the first in more than half a century. A milestone in the history of space exploration of the satellite, which also allowed us to observe never-before-seen areas of the Moon, as well as a solar eclipse. The four crew members passed through the Earth’s atmosphere aboard NASA’s candy-shaped Orion capsule, named Integrity, which gently descended by parachute into the calm waters off the coast of Southern California shortly after 5 p.m. (Pacific time) on Friday, April 10. It was a triumphant return for the crew, composed of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, who entered the atmosphere traveling at a speed of Mach 33 — 33 times the speed of sound — not seen since NASA’s Apollo missions to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s. In this image provided by NASA, the crew of Artemis II — counterclockwise from top left: Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover—pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. © NASA via AP Artemis II did not land on the Moon, but it flew over it. It broke the distance record of Apollo 13 and marked the furthest journey ever made by humans from Earth when the crew reached 406,771 kilometers in distance. The mission traveled a total of 1,117,515 km. It was the first manned test flight in a series of Artemis missions that aim to return astronauts to the lunar surface starting in 2028. The splashdown was broadcast live on NASA’s website. Report from Miami: Artemis II returns to Earth and lands successfully To display this YouTube content, you must allow advertising and audience measurement cookies. Accept Manage my options An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the video player from loading. In order to view this content, you must disable it on this site. Try again © France 24 “The United States has once again sent astronauts to the Moon and brought them back safely,” said Jared Isaacman, NASA administrator, after the splashdown, about this mission of the powerful SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft. “A perfect splashdown for Integrity and its four astronauts” Rescue teams were prepared to secure the floating capsule and rescue the crew: American astronauts Reid Wiseman, 50, Victor Glover, 49, and Christina Koch, 47, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, 50. In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft, with the crew of the Artemis II mission on board, approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean to splash down off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. © Bill Ingalls, AP “We have a great view of the Moon from window 2; it looks a little smaller than yesterday,” mission commander Wiseman radioed to the mission control center in Houston minutes before the crew plunged into the Earth’s atmosphere. During the historic flyby on Monday, April 6, they documented scenes of the far side of the Moon never before seen by the human eye, along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “blew us all away,” Glover said. “We have resumed the mission of sending astronauts to the Moon, bringing them back safely and preparing for a series of more missions,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman declared from the recovery ship on Friday. “This is just the beginning.” Despite its abundant scientific contribution, the almost 10-day flight was not without technical problems. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propulsion systems suffered valve failures. In what was perhaps the most notorious incident, the toilet kept failing, but the astronauts did not give it much importance. “We can’t go deeper into exploration unless we do some things that are uncomfortable,” Koch said, “unless we make some sacrifices, unless we take some risks, and make all of that worth it.” What is the importance for humanity of the exploration of Mars after Artemis II? To display this YouTube content, you must allow advertising and audience measurement cookies. Accept Manage my options An extension in your browser appears to be blocking the video player from loading. In order to view this content, you must disable it on this site. Try again © France 24 Hansen added: “There are a lot of tests done on the ground, but the final test is when you take this hardware into space, and it is quite a challenge.” Within the framework of the renewed Artemis program, the Artemis III mission, which will take place next year, will allow astronauts to practice docking their capsule with one or two lunar modules in orbit around the Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land on the moon with a crew of two near the south pole of the Moon in 2028. With Reuters, AP and local media.
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Source: This article was originally published in another language by France 24 – Noticias y actualidad internacional en vivo and has been translated and adapted for our global English-speaking audience. Read the original article here.