Ololade Adeyanju/
The four astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 8.07pm Eastern Time, which is 1.07am West Africa Time on April 11, bringing a landmark journey around the Moon to a successful close.
In a series of updates shared via its official channels, NASA confirmed that the crew, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, completed their 10-day mission with a precise and carefully executed re-entry sequence.
“Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy,” the agency posted shortly after splashdown, marking the end of a mission that saw humans travel around the Moon and witness its far side for the first time in over five decades.
The final phase of the journey began with the separation of the Orion crew module from its service module, a critical step that set the stage for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
The service module, built by the European Space Agency, carried out a final deorbit burn before burning up during re-entry, leaving only the crew module to return safely to Earth.
As the spacecraft descended, a complex parachute system was deployed to ensure a controlled landing.
According to NASA, Orion utilised a total of 11 parachutes, gradually slowing its speed from about 300 miles per hour to roughly 20 miles per hour before touching down in the ocean.
“Orion’s main parachutes have deployed,” NASA said in one of its live updates, as the spacecraft made its final approach.
The mission, which lasted 10 days, took the astronauts on a journey around the Moon, offering views of its far side and even a rare solar eclipse during the voyage.
It marks a major step in NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface and eventually pave the way for missions to Mars.
Only the crew module is designed to survive the intense heat of re-entry and be recovered after splashdown, while all other components are destroyed in the atmosphere.
The successful return of the Artemis II crew is being widely seen as a significant milestone in modern space exploration, demonstrating both technological capability and renewed ambition in human spaceflight.
Further updates and detailed mission insights are expected to be released through NASA’s official platforms in the coming days.
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