'Welcome home, Artemis': Crew celebrates historic 10-day moon mission

After their historic lunar flyby, the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific.

ByMary Kekatos, Julia Jacobo, Leah Sarnoff, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: April 11, 2026, 5:12 PM EDT

NASA's Artemis II mission lifted off on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The four-person crew completed a 695,081-mile, 10-day journey around the moon, also known as a lunar fly-by.

A "textbook" splashdown took place at 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday, April 10.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Apr 10, 2026, 6:38 PM EDT

Astronauts suited up

Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover work at the controls of the Orion spacecraft after changing into their spacesuits as it travels to Earth ahead of splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, April 10, 2026.
NASA

Members of the crew can be seen in their orange spacesuits now while at the controls of the Orion spacecraft ahead of their reentry.

Apr 10, 2026, 6:19 PM EDT

Timeline for Orion descent

Here's a look at the "carefully timed sequence" of the final stages of Orion's descent, according to NASA. All times Eastern.

7:33 p.m.: Orion's crew module will separate from the European Service Module, exposing the heat shield that will protect the spacecraft as it travels through the Earth's atmosphere.

7:37 p.m.: Orion will perform an 18-second raise burn that fine-tunes the reentry angle of the spacecraft to minimize the time the heat shield will experience high temperatures.

7:53 p.m.: Orion will make first contact with the upper atmosphere, beginning a planned 6-minute communications blackout. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs as the spacecraft travels nearly 35 times the speed of sound.

7:59 p.m.: NASA will regain communications with the crew.

8:03 p.m.: At around 22,000 feet in altitude, drogue parachutes will deploy to help slow the capsule ahead of splashdown.

8:04 p.m.: Three main parachutes will deploy at around 6,000 feet, reducing Orion's speed to less than 136 mph.

8:07 p.m.: Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, having slowed to 20 mph.

Artemis II splashdown corridor off the coast of California.
NASA
Apr 10, 2026, 5:42 PM EDT

USGS warns to expect sonic boom from reentry

The U.S. Geological Survey warned residents of Southern California that they should expect to hear a sonic boom from the Artemis II reentry in a few hours.

The sonic boom is expected between approximately 5-5:15 p.m. PT, it said.

Apr 10, 2026, 5:35 PM EDT

What the astronauts will be doing during reentry

It will take Orion about 14 minutes to travel the 400,000 feet from space to splashdown off the coast of San Diego.

Everyone inside the spacecraft will be laser-focused on monitoring the onboard systems during their descent through the atmosphere, according to retired NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore.

Artemis II astronauts, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover work at the controls of the Orion spacecraft as sunlight fills the capsule as it travels to Earth ahead of splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, April 10, 2026.
NASA

The astronauts train for "all types of failures," so their mindset is just to concentrate on the jobs at hand, he said.

"You can't let apprehension involve you in those time frames," Wilmore told ABC News. "You have to focus on your task, whatever that might be, and you have to perform because if you don't, the consequences are pretty dire."

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

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