After their historic lunar flyby, the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific.
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.
During a press conference on Thursday night, Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator at NASA, said that the critical translunar injection burn was "flawless."
“From this point forward, the laws of orbital mechanics are going to carry our crew to the moon, around the far side and back to Earth,” Glaze said.
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen told Mission Control that the crew is "glued to the window" of the spacecraft, enjoying the views of Earth.
“None of us can get to lunch because we’re glued to the window. We’re taking pictures,” he said, calling the sight of their home planet from space "phenomenal."
Speaking to Mission Control after the successful translunar injection burn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared a message of gratitude, saying, "We firmly felt the power of your perseverance during every second of that burn."
"With that successful TLI, crew’s feeling pretty good up here on our way to the moon, and we just wanted to communicate to everyone around the planet who’s worked to make Artemis possible that we firmly felt the power of your perseverance during every second of that burn."
"Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it’s your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the moon," he added.
The translunar injection burn has been completed successfully. The Artemis II crew is on its way to the moon.
The crew received two caution indicators on their screen but determined it required no action and proceeded with the burn.
The burn occurred on time at the one day, one hour and 14-minute mark for the mission, according to Mission Control.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was in Mission Control during the TLI burn.
