Artemis II’s record-breaking journey around the moon ends with dramatic splashdown

HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing new records near the moon with grace and joy.

It was a dramatic grand finale to a mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

In a scene reminiscent of NASA’s Apollo moonshots of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy’s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha.

“These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now, and I can’t imagine a better crew,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship.

NASA's Mission Control erupted in celebration, with hundreds pouring in from the back support rooms. “We did it,” NASA's Lori Glaze rejoiced at a news conference. “Welcome to our moonshot.”

Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the entire plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo.

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.

Watching the drama unfold nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, the astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control's viewing room, cheering when the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew’s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II came screaming back at 36,174 feet (11,026 meters) per second — or 24,664 mph (39,693 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Until Artemis II, NASA’s fresh-from-the-moon homecomings starred only white male pilots. Intent on reflecting changes in society, NASA chose a diverse, multinational crew for its lunar comeback.

Koch became the first woman to fly to the moon, Glover the first Black astronaut and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, bursting Canada with pride. They laughed, cried and hugged all the way there and back, striving to take the entire world along with them.

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.

Born a decade after Apollo, Isaacman greeted the astronauts with hugs as they headed from the helicopters to the ship’s medical bay for routine checks. They walked by themselves, refusing the wheelchairs offered them.

“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more,” Isaacman said. “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.

As for the heat shield, military aircraft crews photographed it from afar during reentry, and divers checked it from underneath as the capsule floated in the Pacific. More detailed examinations are planned.

“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.

People wait for a glimpse of the return of NASA's Artemis II Friday, April 10, 2026, along the beach in Coronado, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

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)

Yan Diomande came to America as a 15-year-old soccer prospect not speaking any English, with his family half a world away in Ivory Coast.

Over the course of two years in Florida, he sharpened his skills on the field and grappled with unfamiliar U.S. customs and “unhealthy” food.

Less than two years after leaving the U.S., he's heading back as a star in European soccer and one of the most-hyped young players at the World Cup.

“That was this crazy life,” he told reporters last week, shortly before he was named to the Ivory Coast roster. “Everything went fast.”

While most of the world’s top teenage players were at storied club academies in Europe, Diomande was playing for DME Academy in Daytona Beach and taking local club team AS Frenzi to a national title.

He returns as the German league's rookie of the year after he scored 12 goals and assisted nine more this season for Leipzig.

Diomande arrived in Florida from the Ivory Coast aged just 15, without any family members and speaking only French. He's grateful for what he learned in the U.S., but the memories are bittersweet.

“Really far away from your family, from your friends, and from the people you love, and I didn’t speak English before, so it was really difficult for me, but that was a great experience to be there,” he said.

Diomande took the unusual career path via Florida at a time when he was too young under international soccer rules to sign a pro contract outside of his home country.

He said he struggled with “unhealthy” food, the American preference for basketball over soccer and other culture clashes.

“It was a very different culture, because I’m from Africa. There’s a lot of, kind of, respect, the way you speak to people,” he said, adding the U.S. was “not the same thing.”

Moving to the Spanish league in January 2025 with Leganés — where he made his pro debut against Real Madrid — and then to Germany in July gave Diomande a chance to shine against the world's best opponents.

Those multi-million-dollar transfers will also leave a lasting financial legacy for his family and small-town Florida club Frenzi.

When the Ivory Coast steps out at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia for its World Cup opener against Ecuador on June 14, it'll be a world away from Diomande's previous biggest game on U.S. soil.

Back in August 2023, the winger scored both goals in front of a few dozen spectators in Loudoun, Va., as his Frenzi team beat Sporting Wichita to the title in the United Premier Soccer League, a lower-level U.S. developmental competition.

Darting past two players for the opening goal showed Diomande's speed and skill. Scoring the extra-time winner showed his stamina and ability to find space on the field.

Team owner Wayne Dorman remembers Diomande as a player so committed to his teammates that he ended a trial with a Major League Soccer team early so he could return for the championship game.

“After he scored the winning goal in that final, he cried,” Dorman told The Associated Press. “He bent on his knees and he cried in tears. He was so happy with joy. It brought him to another level. He was MVP of the tournament and it was ‘sky’s the limit.'"

Dorman remembers a player who “mesmerized” coaches with his skill at his first tryout, shrugged off rough tackles as word spread and opponents targeted him, and showed the kind of ambition and leadership that, Dorman thinks, would make him fit to be Ivory Coast's president one day.

He was also a kid who put on French-language music in Dorman's car on rides to practice and listened to the Jamaica-born Dorman's reggae in return.

However hard he personally found his time in the U.S., Diomande believes it was worth it.

“For me it was more easy to stay in USA because it’s really difficult in Africa,” he said.

Now, his rapid rise in world soccer means he can change his family's lives too.

“I know you cannot buy happiness with money but this is one part of happiness as well,” he added. “I’ve got money from Leipzig a lot to help my family, to bring my family here, take care of them.”

More could be coming. Diomande has been linked with transfers to some of Europe's biggest teams and admits it gives him extra motivation to show his best game.

Dorman said Frenzi's in line for a small slice of transfer fees as part of FIFA's programs to help teams who develop players in their youth. That would allow Frenzi to set up younger kids' teams and mean “we can sustain as a club for quite a few years,” Dorman said.

Diomande has suggested Chelsea or Real Madrid as future destinations in his career, but first comes the World Cup.

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

FILE - Leipzig's Yan Diomande, centre, and Bayern's Leon Goretzka challenge for the ball during the Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich in Leipzig, Germany, on Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

FILE - Ivory Coast's Yan Diomande, left, and Burkina Faso's Issa Kabore challenge during the Africa Cup of Nations best of 16 soccer match between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso in Marrakech, Morocco, on Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)