'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 01, 2026, 1:37 PM EDT

Artemis II astronauts are suiting up

The four Artemis II astronauts are suiting up, officially stepping into their Orion Crew Survival System (OCCS) spacesuits as they prepare for their long-awaited launch.

These specialized suits are worn during the most critical phases of flight: liftoff and reentry.

PHOTO: NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen pose together before the launch of the Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, April 1, 2026 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman Victor Glover and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen pose together after being suited up before the launch of the Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, April 1, 2026 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA

The astronauts are also undergoing leak checks to ensure that their suits are airtight. They conduct a total of three leak checks in the suit-up room and then three more checks once in the Orion crew capsule, according to NASA.

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

Apr 01, 2026, 1:03 PM EDT

All SLS fuel tanks are fully loaded

All of the Artemis II SLS rocket fuel tanks are fully loaded and ground crews are in the replenishment phase, which replaces the cryogenic propellent that naturally boils off.

They will soon deploy the close-out crew and prepare for the flight crew to board the Orion crew module.

NASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen as the Artemis II launch teams load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, April 1, 2026.
Bill Ingalls/NASA

The crew will then walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building and head to the spacecraft.

Weather remains at an 80% likelihood for a go for launch. Tonight's window is between 6:24 p.m. ET and 8:24 p.m. ET from Florida's Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B.

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser

Apr 01, 2026, 12:36 PM EDT

How NASA plans to keep astronauts safe during the Artemis II mission

Despite all the preparation, safety systems and redundancies, the nature of human spaceflight is inherently risky, according to experts.

"I think it'd make everybody feel comfortable to say that all the risk was knocked down to zero," Danny Olivas, former NASA astronaut and engineer, told ABC News. "The truth is it is not and never will be."

NASA's Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, March 30, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Bill Ingalls/NASA/AFP via Getty Images

NASA is using a variety of tools and systems to ensure crew safety from launch to splashdown, including customized lifesaving spacesuits, a launch abort system, radiation monitoring, an emergency egress system and other contingencies.

Read more here.

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

Apr 01, 2026, 11:38 AM EDT

A look back at prior missions to the moon

The Artemis II mission, set to lift off as early as Wednesday and fly around the moon, is the latest chapter in a long history of lunar exploratory space missions launched by NASA over the last six decades.

In the same way that Artemis II serves as the first crewed spaceflight to test technology for future missions to the moon and Mars, Apollo 8, which launched on Dec. 21, 1968, was the first crewed spaceflight to reach the moon and also served as a lunar landing preparation mission, preceding Apollo 11's July 20, 1969, lunar landing.

The Apollo 11 Saturn V space rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, July 16, 1969.
NASA

Read more here.

-ABC News' Mason Leib

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