Artemis 2 splashdown imminent; NASA says astronauts ‘on their way home’ after record-setting moon flyby

In X’s post, NASA Say the astronauts have crossed the midpoint between the moon and the earth.

“They are halfway home,” the agency said, adding that the crew “will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 PM ET on Friday, April 10 (0007 UTC on Saturday, April 11).”

The USS John P. Musa aircraft carrier will recover the astronauts and spacecraft after splashdown, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command.

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During the mission, the crew traveled approximately 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from their origin Earth Flying over the far side of the moon, setting a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space.

This milestone surpasses the previous record set by Apollo 13.

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The crew includes NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The mission marked the first manned flight around the moon in more than 50 years.

Artemis 2 is NASA’s first crewed test flight under its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars. The mission is designed to test systems, crew operations and safety procedures critical to future exploration.