The astronauts aboard the Artemis II spacecraft have safely returned to Earth after a “textbook landing,” bringing their historic 10-day mission to an end.
The crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 00:07 GMT (20:07 EDT), with Commander Reid Wiseman confirming that his team is in good health, RKS News reports.
“This marks the beginning of a new era of human space exploration,” NASA said following the crew’s return.
All four astronauts are “happy and healthy,” a space agency official stated during a press conference.
The Artemis II crew successfully re-entered Earth’s atmosphere after a routine yet tense six-minute communication blackout.
On April 6, the spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth—406,771 km (252,756 miles)—during its lunar flyby, breaking the previous record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.
$100 billion and rising: The cost of the Moon mission
Four years ago, NASA estimated that $93 billion (£69 billion) would be spent on the Artemis program between 2012 and 2025—significantly higher than earlier projections.
Although the program officially began in 2017, construction of the rocket started much earlier.
