'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 03, 2026, 1:41 PM EDT

Artemis II crew awakes to 'In a Daydream'

The Artemis II astronauts woke up around 1:00 p.m. ET on day 3 of their mission to the moon.

"Whenever you want to do some wake-up music, we can do some post-wake-up music," mission commander Reid Wiseman told Mission Control.

A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft's four windows after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026.
Reid Wiseman/NASA

NASA's Mission Control in Houston played "In a Daydream" by the Freddy Jones Band.

Day 3 will include demonstrating CPR procedures in space and checking out some of Orion's medical kit, including the thermometer, blood pressure monitor, stethoscope and otoscope, according to NASA.

A view of a backlit Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft's window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026.
Reid Wiseman/NASA

The crew will also begin to configure the cabin for its upcoming lunar flyby so it has the most ideal setup for capturing images and data of the far side of the moon.

Additionally, the Artemis II astronauts will be doing a Deep Space Network emergency communications test make sure the system works.

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser and Mary Kekatos

Apr 03, 2026, 10:18 AM EDT

Out of this world photos from Orion capsule revealed

NASA released the first batch of high quality photos of Earth taken from the Orion capsule.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman took this picture of Earth from the Orion spacecraft's window on April 2, 2026, after completing the translunar injection burn.
Reid Wiseman/NASA

The images show the crew’s view as they look back at the pale blue dot we call home, while continuing their journey toward the moon.

A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft's four main windows after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026.
Reid Wiseman/NASA

According to NASA, the images were taken on Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman's "personal computing device, PC or tablet."

-ABC News' Briana Alvarado

Apr 03, 2026, 8:19 AM EDT

View of Earth in day and night from Artemis II Orion spacecraft

During Friday morning's video feed from the Orion spacecraft, NASA captured an image of Earth partly in daytime and partly at night.

The Earth is the object on the right that appears crescent-shaped. Orion is about 77,000 miles from Earth here.

Earth is seen from the Orion spacecraft, April 3, 2026.
NASA

-ABC News' Matthew Glasser

Apr 02, 2026, 9:24 PM EDT

Crew will experience an eclipse on Day 6 of mission

The Artemis II crew will get the chance to see a solar eclipse on the sixth day of the 10-day mission.

The sun's corona will be visible, NASA officials said during a press conference Thursday night.

CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover speak with ABC News from the Orion spacecraft as it heads to the moon, April 2, 2026.
NASA

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