Nasa's Artemis Ii Moonship Returns Home To Its Launch Site After Historic Voyage

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The spacecraft that flew 4 astronauts astir nan satellite is backmost wherever its record-breaking travel began.

NASA’s Artemis II capsule returned to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center connected Tuesday, almost a period aft blasting disconnected connected humanity’s first lunar travel successful much than a half-century.

Following its splashdown successful nan Pacific connected April 10, nan Orion capsule was trucked from San Diego to Cape Canaveral. Engineers will analyse nan capsule’s power shield successful much item on pinch everything other successful mentation for adjacent year’s Artemis III docking demo successful orbit astir Earth. The capsule’s physics boxes will beryllium removed and recycled, on pinch investigation equipment.

The capsule, dubbed Integrity by its U.S.-Canadian crew, carried astronauts deeper into abstraction than humans person ever traveled before. Aside from a finicky toilet, nan capsule appeared to execute good during nan astir 10-day voyage, according to NASA.

Commander Reid Wiseman, aviator Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen are yet getting a break aft aesculapian exams and different tests that followed their mission.

“Been waiting for this moment,” Wiseman said via X precocious past week, posting a video of himself relaxing connected nan beach. “There is simply a batch successful my caput that I must process and very small has to do pinch leaving nan planet. Today is my first step. I person ne'er successful my life felt bid for illustration this.”

Until Artemis II, astronauts had not flown to nan satellite since Apollo 17 successful 1972.

Artemis III will characteristic a caller capsule and crew. They will stay successful orbit astir Earth for docking exercises pinch lunar landers still successful improvement by SpaceX and Blue Origin. That will group nan shape for a satellite landing by 2 caller astronauts arsenic early arsenic 2028.

Dunn writes for nan Associated Press.