Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen completed a 10-day test flight, the first crewed deep space mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, traveling 252,756 miles and capturing stunning lunar views like a crescent Earth rising over the horizon.
Reentry is the tensest moment, with Orion slamming into the atmosphere to generate plasma hotter than the Sun’s surface, followed by a six-minute comms blackout and splashdown off California around 8:07 p.m. ET.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman fuelled Mission Control with pizzas, while favorable weather aids recovery—paving the way for Artemis III’s 2027 lunar landing.
