Artemis 2 crew Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Weisman wearing Solar Eclipse glasses on board the Orion capsule named Integrity. On the right, the outbound patch on top of the return patch. The Earth behind the crew, as seen from Orion’s window (NASA, 2026).
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission successfully completed a flyby to the Moon and returned safely after a 9-day historical mission. The crew departed from Florida, USA and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
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Updates
11 Apr 2026: Artemis 2 Back to Huston.10 Apr 2026: Artemis 2 Returns to Earth.
Background
NASA's Artemis Programme.Artemis plans for the Moon.
Moonwalkers.
Artemis Accords.
Artemis Goddess of the Moon.
UPDATES
Artemis 2 returns to Huston, Texas
– 11 April 2026
On 11 April 2026, the crew from Artemis 2 held a news conference at Ellington Field, Huston, Texas, USA.
The event was opened by Norm Knight, NASA Flight Operations Director, followed by Vanessa Wyche, NASA Johnson Space Centre Director, and finally, Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator who welcomed the Artemis 2 crew back to the stage where they were greeted by a standing ovation.
Mr Isaacman thanked President Donald Trump and NASA partners in Congress, the agency’s workforce, the international partners including the European and Canadian Space agencies, and the American Taxpayers.
“There is no doubt that there is a price to pay when it comes to exploring the Cosmos, but there is also a return, in the jobs it creates, the technologies that improve life on Earth and the inspiration it sparks on those who choose to follow” (Jared Isaacman, 2026).
Astronaut Christina Koch described a crew as a team where everyone has the same needs, must face the same threats and must care for each other no matter what because they are in the same journey. When watching the Earth suspended alone in the blackness of space, she realised that Planet Earth is analogous to a crew.
Jeremy Hansen was praised by Lisa Campbell, Canadian Space Agency President, for representing “the best of what it means to be Canadian, exemplifying the deepest values of discipline, humility and hard work”.
US Representative Chairman Brian Babin, representing the US Congress and the district of Texas, said that the Artemis 2 crew inspired not only America but the entire World and generations of humans that will come after them.
“The United States is ready for this challenge and ready to lead. As the US leads in space, they carry the principles of Freedom, Innovation and Opportunity” (Brian Babin, 2026).
Michael Cloud, US Representative of the congressional district of Texas thanked the crew for inspiring everyone again.
At the end of the conference, Commander Reid Weisman addressed the NASA astronauts-in-training who had attended the event and promised that the Artemis 2 crew would support them at every step of the way in their journey to the Moon.
Artemis 2 Crew on stage, presented by Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator, Huston, Texas, USA (NASA, 11 April 2026).
Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Victor Glover deliver their personal messages to the world,Huston, Texas, USA (NASA, 11 April 2026).
Speakers at the Welcome Back Artemis 2 event: Norm Knight, Jared Isaacman, Vanessa Wyche, Lisa Campbell, Brian Babin and Michael Cloud,Huston, Texas, USA (NASA, 11 April 2026).
Watch the full video “Artemis II Crew returns to Huston” (1hr).
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Artemis 2 returns to Earth – 10 April 2026
The crew of Artemis 2 returned to Earth with a successful splashdown in the Pacific ocean in the evening of 10 April 2026.
During the Artemis 1 mission, re-entry consisted in bouncing off the atmosphere to reduce speed, resulting in 20 minutes of exposure to extreme heat, and some damage to the tiles. Learning from that experience, Artemis 2 went for a direct re-entry reducing thermal exposure to 13 minutes, which was more protective to the heat shield.
Descent and landing critical events
- Separation of the Crew Module Orion from the European Service Module (37min before splashdown).
- Orion performs a Raise Burn to position the module in correct orientation for re-entry.
- Orion begins entry into the atmosphere at 121km of altitude (13min before splashdown).
- Jettison of the Forward Bay Cover at 10km of altitude to expose parachute system.
- Parachutes: Drogues, Pilots and Main, are deployed in sequence starting at 6km, 2km and 1.5km respectively.
- Splashdown on the Pacific Ocean.
- Uprighting system deploys to stabilise the capsule on the surface.
- Recovery.
Separation from the Service Module
Separation of the Orion capsule from the Service Module was successfully completed 37min before splashdown as the crew of Artemis 2 continued their journey towards the atmosphere.
The European Service Module (ESM) was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and controlled from the ESA Eagle Control Room at the ESTEC facility in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
Visualisations: Orion Spacecraft with the Crew Module closer to Earth and the ESM with solar panels deployed.Right: Separation of crew module from ESM. Below: ESA’s Eagle Control Room, Noordwijk, Netherlands (NASA, ESA, 2026).
The ESM supports the crew module of the Orion Spacecraft from launch through to separation prior re-entry, after which the module is discarded. It provides propulsion for orbital transfer and attitude control and high-altitude ascent aborts. The module also holds water and oxygen and generates and stores electrical power using a solar panel array. It maintains the temperature of the vehicle and can hold unpressurised cargo and scientific payloads. It is designed to support the crew for 21 days.
This module is 5m in diameter and 4m in length, made of aluminium-lithium alloy and uses a refurbished AJ10-190 engine that was previously used by the Space Shuttle. Overall, in comparison with the Apollo service module, the ESM generates twice the electricity (11.2kW) weights 40% less (15 tonnes), it supports a larger (45%) habitable volume but carries 50% less propellant (8 tonnes). It was built by Airbus in Bremen, Germany.
European Service Module (ESM) main components and a view of its single AJ10-190 engine and the 8 smaller R-4D engines (ESA, 2023).
During the Artemis 2 mission, Pilot Victor Glover manually controlled the ESM for 70 minutes to test the controls and practice docking manoeuvres, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen also tested the controls for a shorter time. The main engine was only used for less than 6 minutes for Trans Lunar Injection (TLI), attitude changes were carried out by the 8 smaller R-4D secondary engines.
Return Burn and Re-entry
After a short Return Trajectory Correction (RTC-3) burn, Orion made the final adjustment to her orientation aiming at her re-entry path, gradually speeding up to 39,500 kph and colliding with increasing amounts of atmosphere particles, causing friction and generating temperatures as high as 2,700° C with the formation of plasma. During this period, there was a 6-minute communications blackout.
Visualisation of re-entry and monitoring of the same at Mission Control Centre during communications blackout (NASA, 2026).
Parachutes and Splashdown
Once inside the atmosphere, Orion’s free-fall was slowed down by the deployment of the first set of Drogue Parachutes, followed by a set of small Pilot Parachutes that preceded the three 49-metre in diameter Main Parachutes, which slowed down the vehicle to 30 kph before splashing down onto the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, 2 hours before sunset on 10 April 2026.
The splashdown of Orion capsule marked the end of the Artemis 2 mission, around the Moon and back, with a total duration of 9 days, 1 hour and 31 minutes since lift off (01 to 10 April 2026).
Artemis 2’s Orion crew capsule near the surface and at splashdown.Notice drogue parachutes and tip of the capsule in the background (NASA, 10 April 2026).
Shortly after splashdown a set of bags inflated with helium to keep the capsule upright and on the surface.
Several Navy vessels that were waiting in the vicinity kept their distance until the capsule settled down and any gases produced during descent vented.
Recovery
US Navy ship USS John P. Murtha (www.cruisingearth.com, 2026).The vessel in charge of recovery was the USS John P. Murtha, an amphibious transport dock ship of the United States Navy (named after Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania). The vessel carried two MH-60S Seahawk helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 to collect the Artemis 2 crew.
Once the capsule was stable, Navy divers approached and secured the inflatable porch, while others secured the parachutes. The astronauts were helped onto one of the boats, taken to the open sea and hoisted into helicopters in pairs.
Crew of Artemis 2 on inflatable boat escorted from the Orion Capsule (NASA, 10 April 2026).
Astronaut from Artemis 2 crew is air lifted to a Seahawk helicopter from the recovery inflatable boat (NASA, 10 April 2026).
The helicopters landed on the ship’s platform and once the area was safe the astronauts were greeted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman before visiting the medical station for a health check.
MH-60S Seahawk helicopters on the platform of the Navy’s dock ship USS John P. Murtha (NASA, 10 April 2026).
Artemis 2 crew onboard USS John Murtha after recovery: Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover and Christina Koch (NASA, 10 April 2026).
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman welcomes the crew of Artemis 2 aboard the USS John P. Murtha (NASA, 10 April 2026).
Watch the full video “Artemis II Return and Splashdown” (4hr).
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Q & A returning from the Moon – 9 April 2026
Day 7 on return with mission lapse time of 5d 17h, 53min.
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MORE COMING SOON TO REPLACE THE BELOW
Artemis 1 launch on 16 November 2022 (NASA, 2022).The mission was an integrated system that consisted of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at the launch site.
The first two launch attempts were cancelled due to a faulty engine temperature on 29 August 2022 and Hydrogen leak during fuelling on 03 September 2022. Each time, the SLS was rolled out and back to NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where building and repairs were carried out.
The Artemis 1 vehicle was a Block 1 variant of the SLS: A core stage, two solid rocket boosters and an upper stage. The core stage had x4 RS-25D refurbished engines previously flown by the Space Shuttle around the turn of the century. The boosters also come from the Shuttle era and each contains a single motor and nozzle. The upper stage had a single RL10B-2 engine.
At launch, the core and boosters produced 4,000 tons of thrust at liftoff.
Journey and destination
After liftoff, the solid rocket boosters separated and splashed down on the ocean. Later, the Launch Abort System was jettisoned and the core stage separated to descend and also splash down.
Once in Earth’s orbit, the upper stage gained speed with a Perigee Raise burn and then a Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) burn that placed the Orion spacecraft on a trajectory to the Moon. At 3,700 km of altitude, Orion separated from the second stage to continue towards the Moon.
Outside Earth’s orbit most of the CubeSats were deployed in 2 stages, the last one was released near the moon’s orbit.
Three weeks later Orion came within 130km from the lunar surface and entered Lunar Orbit. Orion reached a distance of 432,210 km away from Earth becoming the farthest distance from Earth travelled by an Earth-returning human-rated spacecraft, a record previously held by After Apollo 13 (400,171 km).
Orion orbited the Moon from 25 November to 01 December 2022, when it began its journey back home.
Artemis 1: Left: Orion looking back at the Earth, 16 November. Right: Orion approaching the Moon, 20 November 2022 (NASA, 2022).
Artemis 1: Orion closest to the Moon, 04 December 2022 (NASA, 2022).
The following graphic shows a summary of Artemis 1 mission. The journey consisted of 9 days, 10 hr outbound, 6 days in lunar orbit and 9 days 19 hr return, making a total of 25 days.
Artemis 1: Mission summary (NASA, 2022).
Artemis 1 Payload
Mannequins with sensors. Three mannequins were installed in the Orion Spacecraft:
- NASA’s “Captain Moonikin Campos” that recorded data on what the crew will experience.
- German Aerospace Centre’s “Helga” phantom torso measured radiation exposure without a vest. Its dosimetres detected radiation levels at stem-cell-concentration tissue locations.
- Israel Space Agency’s “Zohar” phantom torso tested the AstroRad radiation vest. The comparison provided data on the effectiveness of the vest.
Mannequins: Captain Moonikin Campos on the cockpit wearing orange.Left: AstroRad vest. Right from top: Helga and Zohar wearing the Astrorad vest (NASA, 2022).
Technology demonstration: Amazon and Cisco in collaboration with Lockheed Martin developed “Callisto” that uses video conferencing and the Amazon Alexa Virtual Assistant to interact with mission control. They also posted messages from the public that were displayed at Orion.
The zero-G indicators selected by the teams: NASA sent a plush doll of “Snoopy” wearing an orange astronaut suit, and ESA sent “Shaun the Sheep” wearing an ESA blue suit.
Orion capsule interior showing Captain Moonikin Campos on the pilot seat, the Callisto techno demonstration in the centre.Right: Floating Snoopy (green circle), enlarged for better view. Also, Shaun the Sheep from ESA (NASA. 2022).
Artemis 1 CubeSats
A CubeSat is a small satellite with a limit of 2 kg and a form factor of 10 cm. 10 CubeSats were carried in the Stage Adapter above the Second Stage. From those, 7 were selected by 3 groups at NASA and 3 were submitted by international partners.
- ArgoMoon by the Italian Space Agency, designed by Argotec to image the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. Operational.
- EQUULEUS by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the University of Tokyo to image the Earth’s plasmasphere and craters on the far side of the Moon. Operational.
- OMOTENASHI by JAXA, a lunar probe that would have attempted to land using solid rocket motors. The CubeSat failed to start.
- BioSentinel by NASA to detect effects of deep space radiation on yeast card rehydrated in space. Operational.
- Lunar IceCube by Morehead State Univesity, USA., to orbit the moon and detect water and organic compoundsin the surface and exosphere with imfrared spectrometry. Contact was lost after launch.
- Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper by NASA’s SIMPLEx programme aimed at orbiting the Moon and look for lunar water ice in permanently shadowed craters using a neutron detector. Engines failed to ignite and was lost.
- LunIR by Lockheed Martin to flyby the Moon and record thermography. Communications were lost and no data was collected during flyby.
- Near-Earth Asteroid Scout by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, would have flown by a near-earth asteroid using a Solar Sail. Communications were lost after launch and was lost.
- Solar Particles by the Southwest Research Institute, USA, was to orbit the Sun and study particle and magnetic activity. Contact was lost after launch.
- Team Miles by Fluid and Reason, USA., to demonstrate low-thrust plasma propulsion in deep space. Contact was not established after deployment.
Of the 10 CubeSats launched with Artemis 1, three remained operational after deployment. The remaining 7 failed.
END of UPDATES
BACKGROUND
NASA’s Artemis Programme
The Artemis Programme was established in 2017 with the goal of returning to the Moon through five increasingly complex missions. The main element is the Space Launch System (SLS), a super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle derived from developments that started with the Space Shuttle (1981-2011).
For each launch, the central Core Stage, built by Boeing, reuses and expends 4 pre-flown RS-25D refurbished engines demounted from the Space Shuttles (14 engines were left over). The stage contains liquid Oxygen and Hydrogen.
Solid Boosters Releasing fromthe Space Shuttle (NASA, 2007).
SLS also uses two solid rocket boosters, also derived and refurbished from the Shuttle, they are filled with a composite propellant composed of Aluminium powder as fuel and Ammonium perchlorate as oxidiser, bound together with Polybutadiene acrylonitrile, a propellant fuel.
After 10 years of development, the first SLS launched from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 16 November 2022 carrying the Artemis 1 mission (see below).
Space Launch System (SLS): Top: SLS at launch. 3D model. Solid Boosters. Bottom: Core Stage rollout from the building station (NASA, 2011).
Artemis goddess of the Moon and twin sister of Apollo (NASA, Scott Schafer, 2022).
SLS configurations with different payload capacities, some with the Orion capsule for crew atop (NASA, 2021).
Left: Mark 1 and Mark 2 landers developed by Bue Origin. Right: Spaceship HLS lander developed by SpaceX (NASA, Blue Origin, SpaceX, 2021).
Moon potential landing sites around the Shackelton crater that borders the South Pole (NASA, 2024).
Shackleton crater marked with colour elevation guides where red is the highest and blue the deepest at 4km.
Shackleton crater over imposed on a 3D satellite image of London City (ren@rt, NASA, Google Earth, 2026).
NASA's Artemis Base Camp concept that envisions the foundation surface habitat and the lunar vehicles (NASA, 2020).
ESA’s concept of the Moonbase shielded by Regolith (lunar dust) (ESA, 2018).
Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon, Apollo 11, 1969 (NASA, 1969).
Moonwalkers: 12 American astronauts that walked on the Moon, 1969-1972 (NASA, 2026).
Apollo programme landing sites: Between 1996 and 1972, astronauts landed in 6 zones near the equator (NASA, 2026).
Australia: Dr Megan Clark, AC, Head of Australian Space Agency.
Canada: Lisa Campbell, President of the Canadian Space Agency.
Italy: On. Riccardo Fraccaro, Undersecretary of State at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Japan: Inoue Shinji, Minister of State for Space Policy, and Haguida Koichi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Luxemburg: Franz Fayot, Minister of the Economy.
United Arab Emirates: Her Excellency Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technologies, Chairwoman of UAE Space Agency.
United Kingdom: Dr Graham Turnock, Chief executive of the UK Space Agency.
United States of America: James Bridenstine, Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The Artemis Accords were signed by 61 countries in January 2026 (NASA, 2026).
Outer Space Treaty: Participating and non-participating countries (Wikipedia, 2026).
Diana, Goddess of the Wilderness and the Moon. Painting by Guillaume Seignac, France 1900; and
Goddess Artemis, modern interpretation (ren@rt, Google AI, 2026).
Women on the Moon logo; Artemis logo at the top and arrow-shaped patch below (NASA, 2022).