Artemis II was a ten-day lunar flyby mission that launched on April 1, 2026. With a crew of four astronauts, it was the first crewed flight of the NASA-led Artemis program and the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was the second flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity by the crew.

The mission was a test flight supporting subsequent Artemis missions aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface. Originally designated Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) and intended to support the now-canceled Asteroid Redirect Mission, its objectives were revised after the establishment of the Artemis program in 2017. Artemis II’s mission objectives are similar to those of Apollo 8 in 1968, the first crewed lunar flight during the Apollo program. However, its free-return trajectory more closely resembles that flown by Apollo 13 in 1970.

During the mission, Victor Glover (an African-American) became the first person of color, Christina Koch the first woman, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, and commander Reid Wiseman the oldest person to travel beyond low Earth orbit and near the Moon. During their lunar flyby, the crew set the record for human distance from Earth, 252,756 miles (406,771 km), breaking Apollo 13’s record of 248,655 miles (400,171 km).

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4/10/2026 – Returned to Earth

Artemis II astronauts splash down after first moon mission in more than 50 years

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen traveled a historic 252,000 miles from Earth

The four Artemis II astronauts splashed down off the coast of San Diego Friday evening following a 10-day mission that marked the first manned moon mission in more than 50 years at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time.

The crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center April 1 and traveled around the moon, 252,000 miles from Earth, flying farther from Earth than any previous mission.

After NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman landed on the USS John P. Murtha ahead of the splashdown, he shared a massage for those helping with the recovery of the astronauts.

“I have no doubt that you’re all going to execute this flawlessly as we get these astronauts who will just complete an absolute historic mission, traveling further into space than any humans have gone before,” he said.

Source: FoxNews