NASA Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Splashdown in Pacific Ocean

NASA Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Splashdown in Pacific Ocean

NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist aboard is seen as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a ten-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. Following a splashdown at 7:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the crewmembers and Orion spacecraft aboard USS John P. Murtha.

Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! 🫶 The Artemis II astronauts splashed down safely at 8:07pm Eastern Time (ET) (0007 UTC April 11), on April 10, 2026, bringing their historic ten-day mission around the Moon to an end. The Artemis II Orion spacecraft's main parachute deployed successfully. The spacecraft has a system of 11 chutes that slows it down from around 300 mph to 20 mph for splashdown. 

NASA’s Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist aboard is seen as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. Following a splashdown at 7:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, NASA, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force teams are working to bring the crewmembers and Orion spacecraft aboard USS John P. Murtha.

Get more updates on the Artemis II blog: 
https://nasa.gov/blogs/artemis/

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Date: April 10, 2026

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