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Artemis II Launch and the Journey Out

The Artemis II crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, the beginning of the journey had been years in the making. The crew was selected in April 2023 and had been training together for their mission for the past three years

Throughout the mission, the astronauts put the Orion spacecraft through a series of planned tests to evaluate systems, procedures, and performance in deep space. They conducted manual spacecraft operations, evaluated life-support, propulsion, power, thermal, and navigation systems, and performed proximity operations. All this will help navigate future explorations that intend to be crewed lunar missions.

A Record-Breaking Lunar Flyby

The crowning moment of the mission came on April 6, when the crew swung around the far side of the Moon in a historic flyby. This was the first time humans had ventured to that region of space since the Apollo era.

During the flyby, the Artemis II crew set a new record for the farthest distance from Earth ever traveled by a human mission. They surpassed the Apollo 13 record of 248,655 miles set in 1970. The crew ultimately reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, 4,111 miles farther than any humans in history.

The crew passed through a planned communications blackout as the spacecraft traveled behind the Moon, blocking radio signals from NASA’s Deep Space Network on Earth for about 40 minutes. When contact was reestablished, mission controllers were greeted with images and descriptions that stunned the world.

“As we prepare to go out of radio communication, we’re still going to feel your love from Earth. And to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you, from the Moon. We will see you on the other side. Victor Glover Artemis Pilot”

Shortly after 2 p.m. EDT during the flyby, the crew described two small, unnamed craters on the heavily pockmarked lunar surface and suggested provisional names for them. Just northwest of the Orientale basin, they proposed naming one crater Integrity, after their spacecraft and the mission. The second crater was named Carroll Crater to honor the late Caroll Taylor Wiseman, the late wife of the Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. It is a bright spot located northwest of the Glushko crater on the near side of the Moon.

Later, the crew witnessed an Earthset as Orion emerged from behind the Moon.

The Artemis II Coming Home

Going to the moon is hard, but coming back is said to be harder. With the flyby complete, the crew turned their attention to the journey back. On Flight Day 7, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 15 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 1.6 feet per second, guiding the crew toward Earth

Re-entry was a tense and technically demanding sequence. At 7:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft reached Earth’s atmosphere 400,000 feet above the planet’s surface, traveling 35 times the speed of sound, approximately 1,956 statute miles from the splashdown site. The spacecraft then entered a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma formed around the capsule during peak heating,

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Even among the seasoned professionals of Mission Control, the silence was nerve-wracking. “Certainly, there’s anxiety,” Artemis II entry flight director Rick Henfling said after splashdown. 

“If you didn’t have anxiety bringing the spacecraft home, you probably didn’t have a pulse.”

When Orion emerged from blackout, relief swept through Johnson Space Center. At 23,400 feet, the drogue parachutes deployed to slow and stabilize the spacecraft. At 5,400 feet, the main parachutes deployed, reducing velocity to less than 200 feet per second and guiding Orion to splashdown.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, along with Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), splashes down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m.

The Crew’s reflections

NASA astronaut Victor Glover said he was still processing the scale of what the crew had achieved. “The gratitude for what we saw and what we did is too much to contain in one body,” he said, adding, “I love you, all of you,” in remarks directed at colleagues and supporters.

Commander Reid Wiseman was visibly overcome with emotion. “Victor, Christina,

and Jeremy, we are bonded forever, and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through,” Wiseman said. “And it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life.

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Mission specialist Christina Koch spoke movingly about what the experience had taught her about the meaning of teamwork. “A crew is a group that is in it all the time, no matter what, that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other, that gives grace, that holds accountable,” she said. “A crew has the same cares and the same needs, and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.”The Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen offered a reflection that spoke to what the mission meant for all of humanity. “I would suggest to you that when you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you,” he said

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