When Artemis II returned to Earth, its astronauts re-entered the atmosphere at around 40,000 kmh—fast enough to travel from Sydney to London in about 20 minutes. To survive that extreme speed, the Orion spacecraft can endure temperatures of nearly 2800°C, hotter than molten lava, before parachuting into the ocean for a precise splashdown.

The mission’s crew members have described it as the “greatest dream on Earth”, as reported by the ABC and the US-based Associated Press. After landing in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, the crew underwent medical evaluation. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canada’s mission specialist Jeremy Hansen have now become the first humans to travel towards the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. That was the 11th and final crewed mission as part of NASA’s famous Apollo program.

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed mission in the Artemis program, designed to send four astronauts on a lunar flyby and safely return them to Earth without landing on the Moon. Launching aboard the powerful Space Launch System on April 1 and traveling in the Orion spacecraft, the mission will test critical life-support, navigation, and deep-space communication systems with humans on board for the first time in this new era of exploration. The mission follows in the footsteps of the Apollo program, becoming the first time astronauts venture beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission. During the roughly 10-day journey, the crew will perform a close flyby of the Moon, reaching thousands of kilometers beyond it before looping back to Earth, helping engineers verify that all systems perform as expected in deep space. Artemis II is a crucial stepping stone toward future lunar landings, including the planned Artemis III mission, which aims to return humans to the Moon’s surface.