WATCH: Stunning Video Shows the Moment Artemis II Splashed Down
NASA released stunning video Friday night of the Artemis II capsule descending through the sky above the Pacific Ocean, its parachutes fully deployed, before splashing down off the coast of San Diego at exactly 8:07 p.m. ET — bringing a historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end.
Watch the Videos of the Artemis II Splashdown
The first video NASA posted to their X account shows Orion's main parachute deploying high above the ocean. What looks like one chute is actually part of an 11-parachute system designed to slow the spacecraft from around 300 mph all the way down to 20 mph before it hits the water. "Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy," NASA wrote alongside the footage.
Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! ????
— NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026
The Artemis II astronauts have splashed down at 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11), bringing their historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end. pic.twitter.com/1yjAgHEOYl
The second captures the splashdown itself — the moment the capsule broke the surface and commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen officially came home.
The splashdown completed a mission unlike any in more than half a century. Over 10 days, the Artemis II crew flew around the Moon, broke the all-time record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth — surpassing the Apollo 13 crew's mark set in 1970 — witnessed a solar eclipse from behind the Moon, and returned safely despite flying with a heat shield that had shown concerning damage on the previous uncrewed mission.
Recovery teams aboard the USS John P. Murtha were standing by to retrieve the crew following splashdown. Reid Wiseman confirmed multiple times that all four astronauts are alive and well, although they had to float for a while before being extracted from Integrity. The astronauts will undergo post-mission medical evaluations before traveling to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.