Artemis II Crew Reaches Halfway Point on Return Journey to Earth
Washington DC: The Artemis II crew is halfway through its journey back to Earth after completing a historic Moon flight, according to NASA.
The space agency said the astronauts are currently preparing to splash down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 a.m. ET on Friday (0007 UTC on Saturday), where they will be rescued by the U.S. Navy’s USS John P. Murtha.
During the mission, the crew set a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth as they crossed the far side of the Moon, reaching 252,756 miles (406,771 km), surpassing the Apollo 13 record.
The mission also includes observations such as a solar eclipse seen from space, contributing to the flight’s scientific and exploratory milestones, NASA said.
The Artemis II mission is the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis program, aiming to return humans to the Moon and enable future deep space exploration. Astronauts include Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The mission is designed to test critical systems, verify crew safety procedures and collect data for future lunar missions, an important step toward a long-term human presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars, the agency said.
