Artemis II spacecraft splashes down in Pacific after sensational 25,000mph return to Earth

Nasa's Artemis II spacecraft has returned to Earth after completing its historic, record-breaking journey around the Moon.

Just after 1am BST, the Orion module separated from the rest of the craft and plummeted down into the Pacific Ocean - after reentering our atmosphere at almost 25,000 miles per hour and enduring temperatures of 2,760C.

It had earlier slowed down from that incredible speed to to just 20mph for a safe landing.

The craft successfully deployed its parachutes and made its way into the sea off Southern California.

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

There had been concerns over the capsule's heat shield after the unmanned Artemis I test flight's own flaked off.

But on Saturday - or Friday afternoon, at 5.07pm local time - the manned mission made it back home in one piece.

The crew's homecoming cleared a critical final hurdle for the Lockheed Martin-built LMT.N Orion spacecraft, proving it would withstand the extreme forces of re-entry from the Moon.

At the peak of re-entry stress, as expected, intense heat and air compression formed a red-hot sheath of ionised gas, or plasma, that engulfed the capsule.

This cut off radio communications with the crew for several minutes.

Since Artemis II blasted off on April 1, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have captivated the world with their extraordinary images of the Moon and the Earth, and their updates from their journey into space.

The four eventually travelled further from Earth than any humans in history.

They reached a maximum distance of approximately 252,760 miles from our planet on Monday, shattering a record that had stood for more than half a century.

In total, the quartet travelled some 694,392 miles across two Earth orbits.

It marked the first crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions which aim to start landing astronauts on the lunar surface, starting in 2028.

More to follow...

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter