NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have started their journey back to Earth after completing a historic crewed flyby of the Moon. This marks humanity’s return to deep space after more than five decades.
The Orion spacecraft is on a free-return path, using the Moon’s gravity to sling it back toward Earth without requiring much propulsion. This technique is similar to what was used in the Apollo missions.
During the mission, the four-member crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—traveled farther from Earth than any humans before, setting a new distance record and seeing parts of the Moon that astronauts have never observed directly.
NASA has confirmed that the spacecraft performed important trajectory correction burns and is now steadily making its way home. The astronauts are conducting final experiments and system checks in preparation for re-entry.
The mission, which launched on April 1, serves as a vital test flight for future lunar landings under the Artemis program. It does not include a Moon landing but focuses on validating systems for upcoming missions, including Artemis III.
The crew is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of nearly 25,000 miles per hour before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams will retrieve them.
This mission is viewed as a major step toward establishing a lasting human presence on the Moon and eventually enabling crewed missions to Mars.
