The four astronauts participating in the "Artemis 2" mission will return to Earth on Friday evening, after completing an orbit around the moon. The Orion capsule carrying Americans Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reed Wiseman, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen is scheduled to land off the coast of San Diego in the evening.

Published on: 04/10/2026 - 09:00

The Artemis 2 space mission will return to Earth on Friday evening after a journey around the moon full of exciting and symbolic moments. The four astronauts must cross the Earth's atmosphere and land in the waters off the coast of California.

NASA Deputy Director, Amit Kshatriya, confirmed during a press conference on Thursday: “We will not be able to start celebrating until the crew is safe” on board the ship assigned to rescue them. He added: "Only then will we be able to let emotions get the better of us and start talking about success."

The four astronauts on the “Artemis 2” flight reported, on Sunday, after their spacecraft exceeded two-thirds of the distance of the expected journey to orbit around the moon that they were views “that the eye had never seen before.”

At the end of the fourth day of their ten-day mission, they were about 321,869 kilometers from the Earth and 131,965 kilometers from the Moon.

The "Artemis 2" mission is part of a long-term plan to repeatedly return to the moon with the aim of establishing a permanent base there that will pave the way for further exploration.

France 24/AFP

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