Artemis 1 Moon mission successfully has reached Earth

After a successful trip around the Moon, NASA's Artemis 1 mission has successfully returned to Earth. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft made its final landing on Saturday, around 12:40 p.m. EST, off the coast of Baja, California. During its nearly 26-day journey, the spacecraft broke an Apollo flight record and returned stunning images of Earth's natural satellite.

Flight Day 26. Orion is returning to Earth. 20,000 miles / 32,000 km from Earth. Traveling at 9,600 mph / 15,500 kmh and accelerating. pic.twitter.com/EWCKXkChjg

— Orion Spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) December 11, 2022

Orion made what is called a skip entry on its way to the Pacific Ocean. The crew ship briefly used its own lift to "skip" out of the upper atmosphere of the Earth before re-entering for the final descent. It became the first human-carrying spacecraft to perform such a maneuver by doing so.

Artemis 1 Moon mission successfully has reached Earth

During the NASA livestream, Administrator Bill Nelson stated, "This is an extraordinary day..." Even though we do this as an international endeavor, it is a vision for the future that captures the DNA of particularly Americans. That DNA is that we are adventurers, explorers, and we always have a frontier, and that frontier is to now continue exploring the heavens."

Splashdown.

After traveling 1.4 million miles through space, orbiting the Moon, and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts on future #Artemis missions, the @NASA_Orion spacecraft is home. pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7

— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022