The Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts from NASA’s Artemis II mission has successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of a historic journey around the Moon.

The capsule landed safely off the coast of California at approximately 00:07 GMT (5:07 p.m. local time) after a high-speed re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere. Parachutes deployed during descent slowed the spacecraft to a safe landing speed before it touched down in the ocean, where recovery teams were waiting. 

The splashdown concluded a roughly 10-day mission that saw four astronauts travel nearly 695,000 miles, becoming the first humans in more than 50 years to journey around the Moon and return. The crew also set a new record for the farthest distance travelled from Earth by humans. 

During re-entry, the capsule endured extreme temperatures and speeds of up to about 40,000 km/h, testing its heat shield and systems designed for deep-space missions. 

The mission is a major milestone for NASA’s Artemis programme, aimed at returning humans to the Moon later this decade and eventually enabling crewed missions to Mars.

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