Artemis

The Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen – has returned to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston following their historic lunar flyby mission.  The first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT April 1, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half […]

Live re-entry updates for NASA’s Artemis II mission will be published on this page. All times are Eastern. 4:27 a.m. The Orion spacecraft is secured in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean and carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximate 10-day mission around the […]

At 2:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 8 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 4.2 feet-per-second and pushing Artemis II toward Earth. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen reviewed procedures and monitored the spacecraft’s configuration and navigation data.

The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen — began the final phase of their journey home to the songs “Run to the Water” by Live, selected by the crew, and “Free” by Zac Brown Band, as they prepared for their third return trajectory correction burn and shifted into full re-entry and splashdown preparations. When they woke up, they were 61,326 miles from Earth.

At 10:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 9 seconds, producing an acceleration in velocity of 5.3 feet-per-second and pushing the Artemis II crew toward Earth. The crew is now more than halfway home. 

On their last full day in space, the Artemis II crew began the morning with “Lonesome Drifter” by Charley Crockett as they approached Earth at 147,337 miles.

Editor’s Note: This blog was updated on April 8, 2026, to update the time for the crew news conference. In addition, flight controllers elected to forgo the 10:55 p.m. EDT manual piloting demo. Editor’s Note: This blog was updated to provide information on the originally scheduled radiation shielding demonstration. Aboard the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, […]

At 8:03 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, ignited its thrusters for 15 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 1.6 feet-per-second and guiding the Artemis II crew toward Earth. NASA astronaut Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen reviewed procedures and monitored the spacecraft’s configuration and navigation data.   During today’s mission status briefing, NASA officials shared the first images received from the crew during the lunar flyby and […]

After their historic lunar flyby on April 6, the Artemis II crew is awake and preparing for the journey back to Earth. The crew started the day 36,286 miles from the Moon and 236,022 miles from Earth, waking to the sounds of “Tokyo Drifting,” by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry. At 1:23 p.m. EDT, the […]

The Artemis II mission wrapped up a historic seven-hour lunar flyby, marking humanity’s first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and capturing images of the lunar far side. After the lunar observation period concluded, the Artemis II crew was congratulated by President Donald J. Trump, in a live conversation that aired as […]