Orion Crew Module Separates from Service Module | NASA Artemis II Moon Mission

Orion Crew Module Separates from Service Module | NASA Artemis II Moon Mission

Before reentering Earth’s atmosphere at the end of NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission and prior to landing, the Orion spacecraft’s crew module—carrying the astronauts—separated from the European Service Module (ESM) that provided propulsion and power throughout their journey.

The Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down on Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean following its approximate 10-day journey around the Moon carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

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 on April 1, 2026, carrying the first astronauts to travel to the Moon in more than half a century. 

The crew completed a record-setting lunar flyby, taking them 252,756 miles at their farthest distance from Earth and 4,067 miles above the lunar surface at their closest approach. 

Under Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Learn more about NASA's Artemis II Mission:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Video Credit: NASA/JSC/R. Wiseman

Duration: 10 seconds

Release Date: May 15, 2026

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