Nine days after launch, the Artemis 2 crew splashed down on Friday in the Pacific off San Diego. It was the first crewed Moon flight since Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts, including the first woman and the first non-American, completed a lunar flyby and set a new distance record. The remarkable part: the mission never landed on the Moon and is still the most important crewed spaceflight in a generation.
A Record That Had Held Since 1970
At the peak of their lunar trajectory the Orion capsule reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometres) from Earth. That broke the record of Apollo 13 from 1970, which involuntarily reached 248,655 miles from Earth after a tank explosion prevented the Moon landing. The record had stood for 56 years unbroken.
The most critical phase of the return was atmospheric re-entry. The Orion capsule hit Earth's atmosphere at roughly 38,400 kilometres per hour, and its outer shell heated to over 2,700 degrees Celsius. The descent through the atmosphere lasted 13 minutes. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson had cautioned before the manoeuvre that celebration would only be appropriate once the crew was safely aboard the recovery ship. Recovery was handled by the USS John P. Murtha.
Four Historic Firsts in One Crew
Four people made this mission a turning point in the history of crewed spaceflight:
- Reid Wiseman (NASA, commander) led the mission
- Victor Glover (NASA, pilot) became the first person of colour ever to fly near the Moon
- Christina Koch (NASA, mission specialist) became the first woman in the history of lunar flight
- Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency) became the first non-American ever on a Moon mission
Koch and Glover both had experience from long ISS missions; Hansen is a fighter pilot and has been an astronaut since 2009. For all four, this was their first flight beyond low Earth orbit. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had spoken to the crew via video link during the mission.
What Sets Artemis 2 Apart From Apollo
Artemis 2 was not a landing attempt. The mission followed a free-return trajectory around the Moon, similar to Apollo 8 in 1968. The difference from Apollo lies in the system: the Orion capsule is larger, heavier and equipped with more modern life-support technology. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that carried the capsule into space generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, making it the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built.
Artemis 1 was an uncrewed test flight in 2022. Artemis 2 has now proven that the system can safely carry humans into the lunar environment and back. That was the central question ahead of this mission: whether Orion and SLS, after years of delays and billions in costs, would work when it counted.
Next Step: Moon Landing, No Earlier Than 2027
After recovery from the Pacific, the four astronauts travel to Johnson Space Center in Houston, where a comprehensive medical programme begins. Physiological data from Artemis 2 feeds directly into preparation for the next mission. Artemis 3 is to put humans on the Moon's surface for the first time since 1972, including Christina Koch according to current NASA planning. NASA has not committed to a firm date. Internally, end of 2027 is the target.
Europe's contribution, the European Service Module built at the Airbus plant in Bremen, supplied the Orion capsule throughout the nine days with propulsion, power and life support. A quiet but central European role that is now being widely acknowledged.