Bright Skies

Artemis II started with fire and ended with water. The spaceflight began on April 1. That’s when its crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch was powered by six rocket engines pouring flames. The mission ended on April 10. That’s when the craft’s capsule × capsule a small compartment or spacecraft in which astronauts travel (noun) gently landed in the ocean near San Diego, California.

With splashdown, the four astronauts aboard—commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch—had successfully concluded the first crewed mission to the moon in 54 years. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman called it “the greatest adventure in human history.”

Left to right are pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist Christina Koch, and commander Reid Weisman

Historic Mission

Artemis II flew around the far side of the moon (see “Moon Swing”). The crew traveled 252,756 miles from home. That’s farther from Earth than anyone has traveled before.

The mission was the second in the Artemis program, which NASA describes as “a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration at the moon and future missions to Mars.” Artemis I was an uncrewed mission that went around the moon in 2022.

Artemis II had several goals. It tested two NASA vehicles: the Orion spacecraft, which housed the astronauts, and the Space Launch System (SLS), a giant rocket that sent the craft into orbit. The mission also allowed the astronauts to capture more than 7,000 images of the lunar surface and a solar eclipse.

EARTHSET Astronaut Reid Wiseman captured this photo of Earth peeking over the moon on April 6.

There were several challenges. The astronauts flew in a spacecraft that had never carried people. They reentered Earth’s atmosphere using a path that had never been attempted. And they were protected by a heat shield that had malfunctioned × malfunction to fail to work properly (verb) during the Artemis I mission. (The shield was modified for Artemis II.)

Prior to the crew’s return, Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator, said he had “full confidence” in all teams. That confidence was rewarded on April 10, when the crew returned to Earth. The capsule was slowed by three huge parachutes before hissing into the ocean and settling atop the waves. “The entry, descent, and landing systems performed as designed,” Kshatriya said in a press release after splashdown.

Flying into the Future

Artemis II sought to answer a question: Are humans ready to travel farther into space? With Artemis III, NASA hopes to orbit Earth while testing lunar landers in 2027. Artemis IV and V could land on the moon in 2028. As always, there are challenges ahead. The biggest involves the lunar lander: It doesn’t yet exist. The company SpaceX is still building it.

All of that’s for later. For now, the focus is on the success of Artemis II. “This moment belongs to the thousands of people across fourteen countries who built, tested, and trusted this vehicle,” Kshatriya said. “Their work protected four human lives traveling at 25,000 miles per hour and brought them safely back to Earth.”

Moon Swing

Here’s how the Artemis II moon mission happened:

1. The football-field-length SLS launched from Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, on April 1.

2. The used booster rockets and core stage separated, leaving only the Orion capsule and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).

3. While the Orion and the ICPS were still in Earth’s orbit, operational checks were performed.

4. The Orion separated. Astronauts tested handling, hardware, and software.

5. The craft fired its engine to exit the Earth’s orbit and head toward the moon.

6. After four days, the Orion flew within 4,000 miles of the moon.

7. Gravity from the moon and Earth was harnessed for the crew’s return.

8. The capsule separated to begin its 75-mile fall to Earth.

9. Parachutes deployed to slow the capsule.

10. Splashdown was off the coast of San Diego, California, on April 10. A ship recovered the astronauts and capsule.