WATCH: Artemis II astronauts splash down on Earth

After a nearly 10-day journey that took the Artemis II astronauts around the moon, in front of an eclipse and farther away from Earth than any humans before them, the crew of four have made a dramatic return home, according to NPR.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen were ensconced in the Orion space capsule when they dropped into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. Friday.

The USS John P. Murtha is stationed near the splashdown zone to help recover the crew.

To get back to Earth, the space capsule had to withstand predicted temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit and slow down from nearly 25,000 miles per hour — or more than 30 times the speed of sound — to a gentle 19 mph or so before splashdown. 

Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! ????

The Artemis II astronauts have splashed down at 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11), bringing their historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end. pic.twitter.com/1yjAgHEOYl

— NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026

The roughly 13-minute journey from the top of the atmosphere to the surface is like "riding a fireball through the atmosphere," NASA astronaut and Artemis II crew member Victor Glover said before the maneuver. 

But, he said, it's also a necessary one. 

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