“Artemis II” mission crew successfully returns to Earth

The crew of the “Artemis II” mission, the first to fly to the Moon in over 50 years, successfully returned to Earth on the night of April 11.

This was reported by NASA.

The Orion capsule with four astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at around 03:00 Kyiv time. All were subsequently successfully evacuated aboard the USS John P. Murtagh. The astronauts were then escorted to the medical bay for a medical examination.

Thus, an American-Canadian group of astronauts completed their nearly 10-day mission around the Moon, covering a record 406 770 km from Earth.

Artemis II mission

On the night of April 2, the American space agency NASA launched a manned mission to the Moon, Artemis II. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket in the agencyʼs history. The missionʼs goal is to test the rocket and spacecraft systems in preparation for a new lunar landing.

On April 3, NASAʼs “Artemis II” mission began its journey to the Moon. This marks the first time humans have left Earthʼs orbit since 1972. On April 6, the astronauts entered the Moonʼs gravitational field and later set a historic record by traveling 406 764 km (252 752 miles) from Earth. This is the farthest humans have ever traveled from the planet.

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