Artemis I: NASA Successfully Completes Historic Mission

NASA's Orion capsule successfully splashed down Sunday morning, effectively marking the conclusion of the Artemis I mission save for further analysis of the module. Landing in the ocean off the coast of Baja California, recovery teams will now work on getting the capsule home, where teams will retrieve payloads included inside for further study. Orion spent nearly a month in space, finally launching in November after a months-long delay. The mission set a new record for NASA, marking the furthest distance ever traveled by a craft capable of carrying human life. At its furthest, Orion was nearly 270,000 miles from Earth; Apollo 13 previously set the record at 249, 205 miles.

"The splashdown of the Orion spacecraft – which occurred 50 years to the day of the Apollo 17 Moon landing – is the crowning achievement of Artemis I. From the launch of the world's most powerful rocket to the exceptional journey around the Moon and back to Earth, this flight test is a major step forward in the Artemis Generation of lunar exploration," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson offered in a press release. "It wouldn't be possible without the incredible NASA team. For years, thousands of individuals have poured themselves into this mission, which is inspiring the world to work together to reach untouched cosmic shores. Today is a huge win for NASA, the United States, our international partners, and all of humanity."

The first mission of NASA's extensive new Artemis program, the Artemis I mission was uncrewed so as to test the capabilities of NASA's current technologies before sending astronauts back into deep space. According to Artemis I mission manager Mike Sarafin, the flight of Orion was an objective success.

"Orion has returned from the Moon and is safely back on planet Earth," Sarafin added. "With splashdown we have successfully operated Orion in the deep space environment, where it exceeded our expectations, and demonstrated that Orion can withstand the extreme conditions of returning through Earth's atmosphere from lunar velocities."

Barring any major changes, Artemis II will then send an astronaut crew on the same flight path of Artemis I before Artemis III sees astronauts return to the moon for the first time since 1972.

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