The Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby (Nasa/AP)
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10 April 2026
Splashdown for the astronauts on the Artemis II mission marks the completion of humanity’s first voyage to the Moon in more than half a century.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen will hit the atmosphere travelling at Mach 32 — or 32 times the speed of sound — in the self-flying Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, before landing in the Pacific.
Since launching from Florida on April 1, the astronauts have documented scenes of the lunar far side never seen before by the naked eye, and savoured a total solar eclipse, capturing a series of breathtaking pictures in the process.
The four astronauts are set to travel deeper into space than anyone has gone before (Bill Ingalls/Nasa via AP)
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A huge roar marks blast-off at Kennedy Space Centre (John Raoux/AP)
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The launch is watched by guests at the Banana Creek viewing site in Florida (Keegan Barber/Nasa/AP)
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Artemis II mission specialist and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen enjoys a shave inside the Orion spacecraft (Nasa/AP)
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The Artemis II crew captured this image of the Milky Way on April 7 (Nasa/AP)
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The crew members pose with eclipse viewers during the lunar flyby (Nasa/AP)
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An image of the Moon eclipsing the Sun (Nasa/AP)
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People are ‘still giving their all’ to ensure the success of the mission (Nasa via AP)
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A view of the moon taken by the Artemis II crew before going to sleep on day five (Nasa/AP)
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Christina Koch gazes back at Earth from of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows (Nasa/AP)
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The lunar flyby has taken the Artemis II crew further into space than anyone before (Nasa/AP)
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Everyone is in this image except the astronauts themselves (Nasa/AP)
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