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PHOTOS: Artemis II returns to Earth with a Pacific Ocean splashdown

April 11, 2026, 1:05 PM

astronauts
NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, left, and NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, talk with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at their Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after they and fellow crewmates NASA Astronauts Victor Glover, and Christina Koch were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. NASA’s Artemis II mission took the quartet on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Following a splashdown at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT), NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the Orion spacecraft aboard the recovery ship. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA/Bill Ingalls
orion spacecraft
In this photo provided by NASA, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen as the agency’s Landing and Recovery team, along with U.S. Navy personnel work to recover the spacecraft into the well deck of USS John P. Murtha in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)
Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP
orion spacecraft
In this photo provided by NASA, recovery teams work to secure the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II crew members after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)
Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP
astronauts
AT SEA — APRIL 10: (EDITOR’S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images’ editorial policy.) In this handout photo provided by NASA, NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, left, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, talk with NASA Flight Surgeon Richard Scheuring at their Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after they and fellow crewmates NASA Astronauts Victor Glover, and Christina Koch were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. NASA’s Artemis II mission took the quartet on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Following a splashdown at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT), NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the Orion spacecraft aboard the recovery ship. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)
Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images
astronauts
In this photo provided by NASA, the Artemis II astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch are photographed on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after they were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown on Friday, April 11, 2026. (NASA via AP)
NASA via AP
orion spacecraft landing
In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crew members aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP
A Navy MH-60 Seahawk
A Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist, approaches the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California as teams work to bring the crew members aboard. NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Hansen, and NASA astronauts Victor Glover, pilot; and Christina Koch, mission specialist; on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Following a splashdown at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT), NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the crew members and Orion spacecraft aboard the recovery ship. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
NASA/Joel Kowsky
orion recovery team
In this photo provided by NASA, U.S. Navy personnel work alongside NASA’s Landing and Recovery team to connect lines to the agency’s Orion spacecraft is seen as they work to recover the spacecraft into the well deck of USS John P. Murtha in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)
Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP
astronauts and recovery team
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander is seen sitting in a Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after he and fellow crewmates NASA Astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown, Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. NASA’s Artemis II mission took the quartet on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Following a splashdown at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT), NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the Orion spacecraft aboard the recovery ship. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA/Bill Ingalls
people watching spacecraft land
People wait for a glimpse of the return of NASA’s Artemis II Friday, April 10, 2026, along the beach in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
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A Navy MH-60 Seahawk
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astronauts and recovery team
people watching spacecraft land

Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing records near the moon with grace and joy.

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It was a dramatic grand finale to a 10-day mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

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