To humanity’s relief, the Artemis II astronauts returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific ocean just off the California coast Friday evening. And it looked every bit as iconic as those Apollo splashdowns from the 1960s and 1970s.
Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA
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As thrilling as the splashdown was, equally thrilling was video of the crew module separating from the service module a half hour before the spacecraft returned.
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Celebrations broke out at the nearby Air and Space Museum in San Diego, where one space-loving child gave us what may be the most relatable raised fist since Success Kid.
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Credit: Apu GOMES / AFP via Getty Images
Celebrations also broke out several hundred miles north at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, California — where the descent was a nerve-wracking reminder of the lost Space Shuttle that the center is named for.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
However, there followed a wait of more than an hour — longer than expected — while the crew awaited the inflation of a “front porch” that would allow them to be extracted by helicopter.
Credit: NASA screenshot
We’ll update this post with photos of the crew emerging as soon as it happens.
