9 highlights from Artemis II's historic journey around the moon

The four-person Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, successfully completed their mission by splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on Friday, December 11, 2024, marking the conclusion of humanity's first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years and a critical test of the Orion spacecraft's systems for future deep space exploration. The 10-day mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on December 1, saw the Orion spacecraft perform a lunar flyby, venturing farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled. This journey served as a comprehensive shakedown cruise for the spacecraft's life support, communication, and re-entry systems, with the crew conducting numerous tests and providing invaluable human feedback on living and working in the deep space environment. The successful splashdown and recovery by the USS John P. Murtha confirmed the spacecraft's ability to safely return astronauts from the Moon. Key highlights from the historic journey included the breathtaking 'Earthrise' moments captured by the crew, the first live video broadcast from deep space, successful tests of the Orion's manual piloting capabilities, and the demonstration of the spacecraft's heat shield during the high-speed re-entry. The mission paves the way for Artemis III, which aims to land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface later this decade, establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon as a stepping stone for future Mars missions.