The crew of “Artemis 2” landed in the Pacific as planned.Image: keystone
04/11/2026, 06:06April 11, 2026, 06:30
The first people to be near the moon in more than 50 years are back on Earth after around ten days in space. The four “Artemis 2” astronauts on board the “Orion” capsule – US astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – landed as planned in the Pacific near San Diego, the US space agency Nasa announced. It was a “picture-perfect landing”.
Special forces from NASA and the US Department of Defense helped the astronauts out of the capsule and then took them by helicopter to a special ship. NASA boss Jared Isaacman personally received them and congratulated them on a “historic achievement”. The astronauts waved and smiled at the cameras and gave the thumbs up. NASA said the crew was “healthy and happy.” She will now be medically examined and then taken back to Houston.
The rescue of the crew went as planned.Image: keystone
US President Trump: Landing was “perfect”
The moon mission was “spectacular” and the landing “perfect,” commented US President Donald Trump on his online platform Truth Social. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the crew “welcome home” and congratulated them on a “historic achievement.”
The landing was a complicated maneuver in which the capsule temporarily reached speeds of up to around 38,400 kilometers per hour, which placed the astronauts under extreme physical stress. A special shield was used to protect the astronauts from the extreme heat to which the capsule is exposed during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. As planned, communication with the control center was lost for around six minutes. With the help of parachutes, the capsule then decelerated into the Pacific.
Crowds watched the spectacle from the shore.Image: keystone
First people near the moon in more than 50 years
The four astronauts were the first people to go near the moon in more than 50 years. Last week they took off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida on board the “Orion” capsule with the “Space Launch System” rocket system.
It was the second flight into space for Glover, Koch and Wiseman, and the first for Hansen. Koch became the first woman aboard a NASA lunar mission, Glover the first non-white person and Hansen the first Canadian.
A total of more than 2.3 million kilometers covered
The flight path of “Artemis 2” resembled a figure eight around the Earth and the Moon. The four astronauts traveled a total of more than 2.3 million kilometers. They flew around the moon and went further from Earth than humans had ever done before. With their “Orion” capsule they broke the record set by the “Apollo 13” mission in 1970 of around 400,171 kilometers. At their furthest point they were around 406,771 kilometers from Earth. They approached the moon to around 6,545 kilometers. A landing was not planned for this mission.
The “Artemis 2” traveled more than 2 million kilometers.Image: keystone
During their flight around the moon, the astronauts observed the celestial body particularly intensively for around seven hours. Particularly on the far side of the moon, due to the solar conditions, they were able to see things that no human had ever seen with their own eyes. As expected, the astronauts were unable to communicate with the control center on Earth for around 40 minutes.
Towards the end of the moon flyby, the astronauts – wearing special glasses – were even able to observe a solar eclipse in which the sun disappeared behind the moon from the perspective of “Orion”.
Twelve Americans have been on the moon so far
The first person to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969. Nasa astronaut Eugene Cernan, who died in 2017, was the last person to leave Earth’s satellite on the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. In total, the USA was the only country to date to bring twelve astronauts to the moon with the “Apollo” missions between 1969 and 1972.
“Artemis 2” is now supposed to be a big step towards a new lunar program – with the goal of manned landings and then a permanent human presence on the Earth’s satellite. The crew for the next planned moon mission “Artemis 3” should be announced soon, NASA said. The path to the moon is open, said NASA manager Amit Kshatriya. “But there is more work ahead of us than behind us.” (dab/sda/dpa)