The president said the ‘entire trip was spectacular’ and congratulated the crew on the ‘perfect landing.’
President Donald Trump congratulated the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission after their spacecraft splashed into the Pacific Ocean on April 10, capping their 10-day lunar voyage.
Artemis II, NASA’s 10-day test flight around the moon, concluded just after 5 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET, on April 10 when the Orion spacecraft gently parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, California.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he “could not be more proud” of the lunar mission and invited the Artemis II crew to the White House. He anticipated the next phase of U.S. exploration of Mars.
“Congratulations to the Great and Very Talented Crew of Artemis II. The entire trip was spectacular, the landing was perfect and, as President of the United States, I could not be more proud,” the president wrote.
“I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon. We’ll be doing it again and then, next step, Mars.”
The Artemis II mission—carrying a crew of four: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency—marked the first time that humans traveled to the moon and back since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Orion spacecraft traveled 694,481 miles, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, according to NASA.
NASA said the astronauts tested the spacecraft’s life support systems, emergency equipment and procedures, survival system spacesuits, and other critical spacecraft systems to guide future lunar missions. They captured more than 7,000 images of the lunar surface and its terminator, the boundary line separating lunar day and night, the space agency said.
Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 32—or 32 times the speed of sound—a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo.
A joint NASA and U.S. military team retrieved the crew after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, transporting them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha for initial medical assessments. All four crew members were reported to be in great health by medical staff.
