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NASA’s Orion spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off southern California, concluding the 10-day Artemis II mission after a 694,481-mile journey to the Moon and back. The capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at nearly 24,000 mph, deployed parachutes, and completed a targeted descent.
“As Orion brings its crew safely home from humanity’s first crewed mission to deep space in more than five decades, we’ve proven what’s possible through relentless innovation, discipline, and partnership,” said Robert Lightfoot, president of Lockheed Martin Space. “I am incredibly proud of our Lockheed Martin team. This mission validates Orion’s performance in the most demanding environment and confirms we are ready to take bold next steps – returning astronauts to the lunar surface.”
Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen followed a free-return trajectory thousands of miles beyond the Moon’s far side. During the flight, they evaluated key systems including life support, navigation, communications, propulsion operations, and manual piloting; captured science imagery and observations of the far side lunar surface; tested fully integrated environmental controls, life support, avionics, and crew interfaces; and reached 252,756 miles from Earth, a new human spaceflight distance mark.
Orion’s heat shield endured temperatures approaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during re-entry, and its parachute system executed a controlled sequence leading to splashdown. Recovery teams extracted the crew by helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha. The astronauts will undergo medical evaluations before returning to shore and then flying to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Data from the mission will guide preparations for Artemis III, which is slated to demonstrate docking with NASA’s Human Landing System, and Artemis IV, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time since Apollo. Lockheed Martin, Orion’s prime contractor, led the spacecraft’s design, development, and production and continues to work with NASA and partners on sustainable lunar exploration and long-term human exploration of Mars.
