Four astronauts who made history after completing the first human flight around the moon in more than half a century have returned safely to Earth.
Canada’s Jeremy Hansen and his U.S. crewmates – mission commander Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover – splashed down in their crew module, dubbed Integrity, off the coast of California at about 8:07 p.m. ET Friday.
Minutes later, helicopters and boats with divers were dispatched from the navy vessel USS John P. Murtha to pick up the astronauts in their floating capsule.
“I’ve almost been waiting my whole lifetime to see this,” said an elated NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on a livestream from the ship’s deck. “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon and bringing them back safely.”
Assisted by parachutes, the Artemis II crew module, dubbed Integrity, touches down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of the mission on Friday.BILL INGALLS/AFP/Getty Images
About an hour and a half later the crew began emerging one at a time onto a raft that was inflated around the capsule while flight controllers in Houston burst into applause. The astronauts were then helped into harnesses so that they could be airlifted to the ship by helicopter. All four crew members were reported to be doing well.
After retrieval of the capsule, plans called for the astronauts to go first to a navy base in San Diego and then, after medical checks, to be flown to Houston where they will be reunited with their families.
A successful re-entry was the final test for a crucial mission that launched on April 1 and looped around the moon five days later, setting the stage for NASA’s longer-term project of returning people to the lunar surface by 2028.
The Artemis II crew gets ready for the spacecraft's module separation ahead of their re-entry to Earth.NASA/Reuters
In addition to marking the first flight to lunar space since 1972, Artemis II is the first deep-space mission for a Black astronaut, a woman and a non-American. As they rounded the moon on Monday, the crew also broke the all-time distance record for the farthest people have ever travelled from Earth. Soon after, they became the first to observe an eclipse of the sun by the moon from space.
The mission yielded stunning views of Earth in various phases, the moon’s far side and other celestial sights including planets, stars and the sun’s corona.
In photos: Artemis II splashes down on Earth after historic mission
More importantly for the future of NASA’s lunar program, Artemis II was a first test of the Orion crew capsule with people on board. The crew spent much of their time testing life support and other systems, and were also the first to manually pilot the capsule as a prelude to future flight that will require docking with lunar landers.
The crew woke up to their final day in space on Friday, at about 11:35 a.m., to the song Run to the Water by the band Live – a reference to their upcoming splashdown.
The next several hours proceeded smoothly. A final eight-second course-correction burn at 2:53 p.m. put the capsule precisely on the centreline of its desired trajectory toward Earth.
Inside the capsule, the crew worked through a checklist of preparations for re-entry and, by 5:30 p.m., had begun donning their spacesuits and strapping themselves into their seats.
Outside, the planet grew steadily larger in their windows and also in the view from a camera mounted on one of the solar panels on the capsule’s European-built service module.
The astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission spoke with reporters in their first press conference from space on Wednesday. Mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover reflected on their journey to the far side of the moon as the Artemis II crew heads back to Earth.
Reuters
At about 6 p.m., Commander Wiseman could be heard saying, “Christina’s got an amazing view of the home planet out the side hatch window, and it’s lighting up the cabin, and it’s just a great blue hue to it. It’s beautiful.”
From that point, the key moments leading to re-entry were entirely out of the crew’s hands.
Those moments began at 7:33 p.m., when the crew module separated from its service module over the Pacific – an event that was captured in a brief but dramatic view from the service module camera.
The Artemis II crew module separates from its service module as it prepares for re-entry to Earth.NASA/Reuters
The capsule then successfully executed a short burn to adjust its angle.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the capsule reached the top of Earth’s atmosphere at about 7:53 p.m.
Soon after, a fog of ionized air was seen forming outside the capsule window just before the signal from the spacecraft cut out, as expected with the increased heating.
Calculations suggest the capsule reached a maximum velocity of 39,688 kilometres an hour at that time, just shy of a record set by the crew of Apollo 10 in May, 1969.
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Now came what was unquestionably the most nerve-racking part of the process.
Prior to re-entry, a key question surrounded the durability of Integrity’s heat shield, essential for protecting the crew module during its descent through the atmosphere. The descent was tailored specifically to address the issue.
A tense eight minutes of silence followed, until mission control hailed the capsule and Commander Wiseman responded, “Houston... Integrity... We have you loud and clear.”
Cheers then erupted in the viewing gallery overlooking mission control.
A boy wearing an astronaut costume cheers alongside a woman waving a flag as they watch a live broadcast of the splashdown at the San Diego Air and Space Museum.APU GOMES/AFP/Getty Images
By 8:04 p.m., the capsule was plummeting earthward but no longer travelling at supersonic speed. Its parachutes then began to deploy in sequence, with the three main parachutes fully open a minute later.
The capsule could later be seen bobbing amid the waves in an upright position.
In the fast-paced moments that preceded re-entry, Commander Wiseman managed to capture the significance of what his crew had achieved, noting, “We have a great view of the moon out the window too. Looks a little smaller than yesterday.”
To which Jacki Mahaffey, serving as capcom, the crew’s contact with mission control, replied: “Guess we’ll have to go back.”
The sun is fully eclipsed by the moon during the Artemis II crew's lunar flyby on Tuesday.NASA/Reuters