DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland started the Six Nations regarded as an aging team in decline.
It finishes the championship as a revitalized team in transition and still packing a punch.
Coach Andy Farrell couldn't be prouder after his side contained the strongest Scotland threat in decades by 43-21 on Saturday and finished second overall to defending champion France.
Ireland was thrashed by France 36-14 on opening night in Paris and rebounded with a struggle against Italy, a record thrashing of England at Twickenham, a scrappy win over Wales and a 12th straight mauling of Scotland.
Beside the wins which earned another Triple Crown, Farrell was impressed by Ireland's performances.
“Winning matters but what's happened over the eight weeks matters more to us in the sense that there is a lot of firsts; first caps and people playing in the Six Nations for the first time and playing in Super Saturday when it counts for the first time,” he said.
“How our group have come together and navigated their way through that is pretty special. We grow massively because of it and the group has become more resilient because of that.”
Farrell said he talked with the squad this week about the next 19 months before the Rugby World Cup in Australia. The road was difficult but the aim was to grow the squad and fill it with belief.
Ireland played this Six Nations without the likes of Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Andrew Porter, Paddy McCarthy, Ryan Baird, and Robbie Henshaw. Some will return before the Nations Championship in July and some won't but Farrell was pleased with his squad's improving depth forced by a long injury list.
He was happy to name-check standouts such as lock Darragh Murray, who scored a try against Scotland in his Six Nations debut while Tadhg Beirne was in the blood bin, and props Michael Milne and Tom O'Toole, who was Ireland’s fifth-choice loosehead after moving from tighthead.
Farrell praised captain Caelan Doris for “one of his best games in his career.”
As for center Stu McCloskey, Farrell said, “He should be in the running for player of the tournament. The Irish fridge! It's huge for Stu, he has bided his time all these years and what he has done is immense. I don't know when Stu last played five on the bounce for us and performed like that. It's magnificent.”
Farrell also singled out flyhalf Jack Crowley, who replaced Sam Prendergast as the starter for the wins against England, Wales and Scotland.
“I thought (Crowley) was outstanding today. He committed to his performance in every aspect,” Farrell said. “It wasn't just the goalkicking or the ball in the air but you could see he committed to every aspect of the game and led the team really well.”
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Ireland's Robert Baloucoune, front, breaks away from Scotland's Darcy Graham, to score a try during the Six Nations rugby union match between Ireland and Scotland, in Dublin, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ireland's Jack Crowley, center, is tackled by Scotland's Finn Russell, left, and his captain Sione Tuipulotu during the Six Nations rugby union match between Ireland and Scotland, in Dublin, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Ireland's Stuart McCloskey, center, breaks away from Scotland's Ewan Ashman, bottom, and his captain Sione Tuipulotu during the Six Nations rugby union match between Ireland and Scotland, in Dublin, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century.
It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’s far side — never seen before by human eyes — but a total solar eclipse. They emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight one by one.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot.
The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout.
All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft’s only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.
Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six-minute blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew’s arrival off the coast of San Diego, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.
The astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control’s viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its communication blackout and again at splashdown.
“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown,” reported Mission Control’s Rob Navias.
Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.
Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.
During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.
Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.
“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday from the recovery ship. "This is just the beginning.”
Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”
Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.
“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”
Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”
Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.
The Artemis II astronauts' allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.
“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, the Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, U.S. Navy divers prepare to deploy in small boats from the well deck of USS John P. Murtha to recover Artemis II crew members NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist and NASA's Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)
In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule, right, separates from the service module above the Earth in preparation for splash down in the Pacific Ocean. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew, counterclockwise from top left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover pose with eclipse viewers during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed the Moons curved limb during their journey around the far side of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew photographed a bright portion of the Moon on April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this image provided by NASA, the Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby, Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via AP)
