NASA's Artemis II crew capsule has successfully landed back on Earth

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Secret_Account07@reddit

I feel really silly but I totally thought they were landing on the moon. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago I learned the truth.

What a damn shame

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rsta223@reddit

Eh, it's the same as last time. Apollo orbited the moon before landing too.

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Secret_Account07@reddit

No I get it.

Shame isn’t the right word. I meant disappointed. I really wanted high def videos and pictures of the moon. Not ones from almost 60 years ago lol

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KristnSchaalisahorse@reddit

This was the first crewed flight of the spacecraft (Orion). It was a critical test of its systems in advance of a future landing mission. They would never go for a landing on the first flight.

Aside from that, a landing vehicle is still being built and also needs to be tested before

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ZealousidealGrab1827@reddit

So freaking cool.

Signed, a kid who watched Apollo missions launch.

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stormdraggy@reddit

We're going back the the fucking moon!

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

The crazy scale, complexity and magnitude of this mission. So relieved and pumped for next time with how well that went.

When is the next planned mission?

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aflyingsquanch@reddit

"Soon"

To put that projected 1 year turnaround into perspective:

Dec 1968: Apollo 8 orbits the moon.
Mar 1969: Apollo 9 tests LM in Earth Orbit.
May 1969: Apollo 10 takes LM to within 15km of the Moon.
Jul 1969: Apollo 11 lands on Moon.
Nov 1969: Apollo 12 lands on Moon for 2nd time.

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quesoandcats@reddit

Sure, and NASA had like 4 percent of the annual budget's worth of funding, now they do not. It took nearly three and a half years between artemis I and II. A 12 month turnaround is a huge improvement

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testfire10@reddit

To add some additional info, that 4% is about 16x the current NASA budget

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friendlyharrys@reddit

Is that adjusted for inflation?

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testfire10@reddit

It’s just as a percentage of the national budget, so it’s purely in terms relative to how much the federal government spent on nasa back in the Apollo days compared to now. It just shows how, as a society, we’ve lost interest in NASA’s goals.

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atomatoflame@reddit

Our government also spends a lot more overall now compared to GDP versus the 60s. A percentage of budget number may not be the best way to compare budgets.

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testfire10@reddit

That’s true. However, as a society, the US votes on what we spend money on as a nation, and over time, the percentage of the total budge we dump into NASA has continually declined. Even if funding has stayed relatively constant (which it has) for NASA, it still means an outsized (and ever increasing) portion is going to things like entitlement spending and defense.

Either way, during the Apollo years, the nasa budget was something like 3-4 times today’s in inflation adjusted dollars.

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atomatoflame@reddit

All good points. I don't think anyone would win on a slogan "Cut SS, Medicare, and the Pentagon; let's go to the Moon!" It would be nice if we didn't have to spend so much on interest payments and could increase science spending from that, but reducing our debt in the short-term is a pipe dream. They definitely spent more for Apollo and they were also more efficient with those dollars, like most projects, back in the day.

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quesoandcats@reddit

Excellent point, thank you!

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Digger_Pine@reddit

When I was young, about 40% of my budget went to food, now it's about 10%.

Am I eating less?

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ywgflyer@reddit

They were also willing to take a lot more risk in order to beat the Russians to it. Those missions all had a pretty appreciable chance that the crew might die. Now that there's no space race, they aren't gonna play fast and loose with safety, if something comes up that means a huge delay, there will be a huge delay.

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ZealousidealGrab1827@reddit

Pretty amazing. I am most excited about seeing a younger generation so excited about space. I used to build Apollo rockets out of cardboard rolls and cheap paint. Still having goosebumps watching this.

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imaguitarhero24@reddit

Mid 2027

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AlarmDozer@reddit

But what about landing/splash down? That's the real cliffhanger.

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OldStromer@reddit

Agreed. Mercury watching kid here.

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DecentFlakyHeart@reddit

Same energy here. Seeing those chutes out cleanly was ridiculously satisfying.

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ZealousidealGrab1827@reddit

Amazing, right?

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KeyTarget9630@reddit

I'm so freaking hype they reoribited. This is so friggin cool. Rocket science is so insane. The orbit path working is wild. Like there's no excess velocity making you off path, you actually used the trig to return back to earth? Are you friggin kidding me. Fail me for physics 2. I didn't deserve to pass, this is what we can achieve! Let's go.

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taint_tattoo@reddit

What rating is required for this aircraft?

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discographyA@reddit

That was beautiful. Nice to see even Netflix carry the NASA feed and push it to their user base. Far too little attention paid to not just this mission but the Artemis program as whole and we need more unifying events as a country and the world.

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AdoringCHIN@reddit

Far too little attention paid to not just this mission

Huh? There's been almost nonstop coverage on the news about Artemis.

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amesann@reddit

I second this wholeheartedly.

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pavehawkfavehawk@reddit

That’s so frickin awesome

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DigitalPhear13@reddit

Thank you for flying NASA! We hope you choose us again for your next celestial adventure!

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UckfayRumptay@reddit

Imagine the sky miles bonus on their NASA credit card!

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DigitalPhear13@reddit

I can’t believe there isn’t a person in marketing at one of the airlines to give them all that many miles for the airline.

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quesoandcats@reddit

They might not be allowed to? There are pretty strict rules about federal employees accepting gifts

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SeaMareOcean@reddit

The gesture is the marketing angle, the astronauts don’t have to accept the miles.

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changyang1230@reddit

And to be fair, for their experience of flying to the freaking moon and back, most people would PAY to be there, no amount of earthly perk is even relevant to what these four people after what they have been through.

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Lovecodeabc@reddit

One of the astronauts are canadian sooo

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quesoandcats@reddit

I assume the Canadian government has similar rules? But idk tbh

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RedditPoster05@reddit

694,000+ miles

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3_if_by_air@reddit

Best we can do is NASA Basic Econolaunch for 450k miles. Food, drinks and Oxygen available for extra

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Wanymayold@reddit

Not enough for a roundtrip on Delta to Europe.

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rds060184@reddit

It'll get ya coach to Shreveport

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RedditPoster05@reddit

Enough for premium coach + to manhattan kanasas

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bengenj@reddit

Three of them have prior missions on an ISS expedition. They have million miler status by now lol

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kataskopo@reddit

Probably still only silver, with the recent changes these past years 😭

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Cruel2BEkind12@reddit

Thank you for flying Boeing technically.

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ImJLu@reddit

Both Boeing and Airbus, actually.

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KeyTarget9630@reddit

Never space x

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Stormclamp@reddit

One day... one day that will be a common statement, here's hoping.

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

A much needed happening to unite the whole world

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avenueroad_dk@reddit

You can say that again

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ProcedureOne4150@reddit

Don’t forget to join the NASA Frequent flyer program. haha

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private8221@reddit

LOL that is hilarious

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Pallendromic@reddit

Thanks to the inanimate carbon rod?

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Isme1@reddit

Why is this post seat-belts fastened?

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Dazzling_Let_8245@reddit

Can you explain? What did I miss?

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Traditional_Fun7712@reddit

It's all references from the episode of the Simpsons where Homer goes to space. A fantastic, classic episode.

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diabolicalroadrash@reddit

Aw they were about to show a close up of the rod

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dubstepsickness@reddit

I guarantee that Artemis capsule is full of ruffled potato chips and space ants

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diabolicalroadrash@reddit

I for one welcome our new ant overlords

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Glittering-Ad-9585@reddit

In rod we trust!

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Chilebound@reddit

They can lift Crew Dragon out of the water. I know this was a test flight and Orion is bigger/heavier. If Orion returns became more routine, do you think we could see them lift it right onto the recovery ship deck?

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Familiar_Fee_7891@reddit

The fact that we still haven’t met a returning moon mission crew with all of us wearing ape suits and masks saddens me.

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ImJLu@reddit

They should get costume artists to make everyone look really old and claim some time dilation fuckery

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Zucc@reddit

I nominate this person as the next head of NASA.

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PAguy213@reddit

It’s a prideful moment as a human to watch this kind of stuff. Some evolved monkeys have shot ourselves around the moon and come back safely. That’s pretty damn cool

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Rampaging_Bunny@reddit

I ain’t no monkeys grandson

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TheTiddyQuest@reddit

I was both amazed and terrified when they were saying how lonely and surrounded by darkness Earth appears in space.

It just puts into perspective how insignificant we all are in the wider universe and how we just exist in a gigantic space beyond comprehension.

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_austinm@reddit

It is truly amazing that some apes with abnormally large brains were able to accomplish this. I don’t want to discount the intelligence of other species, but it seems that there’s something special about our species that we were able to do this mathematically insane task multiple times.

Homo sapiens are capable of wonderful things. I just wish that we as a species could see this when it comes to things that happen on our little sphere of earth. How silly wars are when we consider what our species is capable of.

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TheRealDurza@reddit

It's amazing how accessible it was to watch live. It's great watching it with so many around the world.

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TrueDirt13@reddit

@elon.. help the government get the astronauts off the water!! Space x would have had these people on the hard In 20 minutes

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Little-Helper@reddit

@rock is this true?

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shadowdogPK@reddit

So incredible and so relieved for the astronauts!

How do they alert air traffic of where not to fly, especially in the event Artemis II went off the expected flight plan?

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mmmayer015@reddit

NOTAMs and if it was off the expected flight path at all we would be having 4 funerals.

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peace2calm@reddit

the ocean surface is so calm that I thought I was watching the sky in the background.

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Pro-editor-1105@reddit

Besides the toilet issues there wasn't a huge amount of them. I'd call this a successful mission.

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DalinarOfRoshar@reddit

I’ll be very interested to see the damage to the heat shield

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NetworkMachineBroke@reddit

And Outlook not working (though let's be honest, that was inevitable)

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Pro-editor-1105@reddit

It doesn't even work back home lol

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KaJuNator@reddit

The number of actually important emails I've missed because I didn't notice the inbox switched itself back to "Focused"...

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Superbead@reddit

Fortunately this is one of the few settings that's never mysteriously reverted itself for me. But I have to wonder why anyone would actually want to leave receiving an email down to the whim of someone else's algorithm. Does anyone here used 'focused' mode?

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ArcticBeavers@reddit

Thats a win for the astronauts

From: Houston (houston@nasa.gov)

Subject: URGENT - Heart rate

Good morning astronauts,

We hope this email finds you well. We noticed in our telemetry that someone had their heart rate elevate from 65 bpm to 75 bpm.

We know this is well within spec, but due to an abundance of caution we would like for you to fill out an entire report on the event (with root cause analysis and corrective actions) and have it back to us ASAP.

We know you have several mission critical tasks today, but please try to make the time.

Thanks in advance!

Houston

P.S. We will sing happy birthday to Julie today at 12pm!

Fuuuuuuvk you.

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Kerlykins@reddit

And who among us actually WANTS Outlook to work??

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Big_Lawfulness_8143@reddit

It's better than gmail

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liedel@reddit

Said nobody who has been forced to use both

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EvenMoreCoconuts@reddit

An outlook + Teams outage would be the ultimate delivery of peace!

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strtbobber@reddit

Amazing!!!

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Ok_Mathematician6075@reddit

NASA's Artemis II crew splashed down today (April 10, 2026) after completing humanity's most ambitious crewed journey in over 50 years!! On April 6th, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen flew behind the lunar far side, completely out of contact with Earth for 40 minutes, and broke the record for the farthest humans have EVER traveled: 252,756 miles from Earth. Apollo 13 held that record since 1970.

Think about that. Pink Floyd released *The Dark Side of the Moon* in 1973, a year after Apollo 17 left the Moon, almost as an elegy for a dream deferred. Fifty years later, we finally went back and saw it with our own eyes.

I don't care what's going on in the world right now. Today, I'm just proud to be a human.

🚀 Godspeed, Integrity crew. Welcome home.

#Artemis #NASA #SpaceExploration

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GreenMonster34@reddit

I took a shot every time they said "Front Porch" and died four times...

Huge congrats to all involved! It was really cool to watch it live with my family.

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FORKNIFE_CATTLEBROIL@reddit

We were at Milwaukee Bucks game tonight, and they were playing short videos and providing updates. The crowd was cheering. Very cool.

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testfire10@reddit

It’s just as a percentage of the national budget, so it’s purely in terms relative to how much the federal government spent on nasa back in the Apollo days compared to now. It just shows how, as a society, we’ve lost interest in NASA’s goals.

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Few-Ability-7312@reddit

Not to take away from the Apollo Missions I would prefer Artemis due to the face we can watch it in real time.

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Misophonic4000@reddit

The actual term is "splashed down" since it "landed" in the ocean :) /PSA

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t-ride@reddit

How far offshore did they land?

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Misophonic4000@reddit

Definitely no land there :P

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TheGreatestOrator@reddit

5 miles

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mikeymikeymikey1968@reddit

what do they do with the used parachutes?

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smallaubergine@reddit

study them

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Kavein80@reddit

You think the 4 crew members are all standing in the aisle crowding the door, grabbing carry-ons?

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BurdenedClot@reddit

Did they clap?

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NebulaNinja@reddit

Somewhere around 3/4 of the way back to Earth, astronaut Jeremy Hansen expressed his regrets about not upgrading to a window seat.

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SuperSimpleSam@reddit

4? I only see three parachutes. j/k

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mrstretchb4ureach@reddit

That's how we know they are human and not alien shapeshifters who hijacked the shuttle!

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FirstV1@reddit

Wonder who was the first up when the seatbelt light turned off

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Competitive_Cheek607@reddit

I really appreciate them sticking with the three white and orange striped parachutes like Apollo. Iconic

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OldPersonName@reddit

I think orange is a good high visibility color against water. So is green so next time I vote they do green and orange.

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No_Slice7251@reddit

I thought we would see more steam rise off of the capsule when it hit the water being it went through so much heat?

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blixco@reddit

It's a long way down, and a heat shield doesn't retain as much heat as you'd think.

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CamusCrankyCamel@reddit

The heat shield is ablative so it doesn’t have that much thermal energy by splashdown

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av8geek@reddit

I'll give the landing 6/10. Minus 5 points because they can't re-use the craft. 🤣🤣🤣

Seriously tho... Amazing stuff! I can only imagine the excitement 50 years ago because I have been excited by this all week.

Bravo. 👌

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_austinm@reddit

Welcome back, astral travelers! It is my hope that your journey could teach us about the fragility and beauty of life, and that we shouldn’t harbor grudges against those who may look different than us. May your journey bring about a new era of unity amount our species. Thank you for all your training and all the sacrifices you’ve made in the name of mankind.

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j_grinds@reddit

Just announced on the livestream the the first crew member is out of integrity. That’s disappointing. Never meet your heroes I guess.

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somethingisnotwight@reddit

I'm always amazed at the beautiful things we can do with proper leadership. To think this mission was ongoing while the debacle in the Middle East was happening just shows what proper leadership can lead us, and where shitty leaders will lead us. I'm in eternal awe at NASA. Especially after the bozo in chief asked to cut the NASA budget by more than 30% for the second year in a row.

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namwoohyun@reddit

Welcome home!

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Simple-Order8549@reddit

I’m hearing the Apollo 13 music while watching this.

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delpy1971@reddit

An amazing achievement and a heart stopper waiting for those final parachutes open!!

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Oh_Cabana_Boy@reddit

That third parachute not opening at first had me holding my breath!

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private8221@reddit

It freaked me out for a moment

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NoResult486@reddit

I assume they’re staged so they don’t all open at once

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private8221@reddit

Well it doesn't matter now. They are safe

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ApacheKillbot@reddit

Thats just something that happens whenever you cluster parachutes. Theyre all fighting for air so one chute will always open faster than the others.

That third chute is redundant so as long as they had 2 all would be good.

All the chutes are also closed up some when they initially inflate and then explosive cutters cut a cord that let's the chute inflate more and more. Big chutes make a lot of force so if they open too quick they go pop.

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avenueroad_dk@reddit

This all feels amazing. Can we stop with the wars now?

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_austinm@reddit

Sadly, I think undeniable contact with aliens would be the only thing that would stop that. Despite our wonderful scientific achievements, we continue to be a horribly tribalistic species.

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Skywarper@reddit

The us government has all but confirmed that aliens exist, it just got released with lots of other distracting news.

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Rymnarr@reddit

I hope people understand just how big this whole mission was/is. How proper research and funding makes for clean efficient results. And not funding billionaires pet project hobby that blow up a rocket worth million every month with little no results in over a decade.

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dinonb12@reddit

are they waiting to open it cuz it's hot?

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_SmashLampjaw_@reddit

You don't wanna be out there is the hydrazine is leaking.

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demonkc@reddit

FINALLY. Its open.

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avenueroad_dk@reddit

Fresh air must feel good to them

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bengenj@reddit

They have to stabilize the capsule, hook up everything. They also want to, yes let it cool a little more. Also, they keep the recovery ships out of the trajectory of the capsule until they are safely in the water.

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JayDaGod1206@reddit

Hazardous chemicals

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Delphius1@reddit

still waiting on that hatch door to open

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orbak@reddit

Yeah and I bet everyone is already standing up blocking the aisle

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NotAPoshTwat@reddit

It would suck to have gone through launch, circling the moon, and then reentry only to get seasick waiting for them to let you out

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julias-winston@reddit

I heard there was a problem with the toilet. IDK the details - don't want to know the details! - but I imagine space travel being one fucking thing after another, and always inconvenient.

Nearly every kid: "I wanna be an astronaut when I grow up!"

Me, today: "Nah. Go ahead. I'm rootin' for ya though!" 😄

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ickytoad@reddit

They mentioned they loaded the crew up with anti nausea meds before re-entry because the Apollo crew all talked about getting so sick for this reason 😅😅

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Delphius1@reddit

and the hatch just opened

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Acheloma@reddit

Just opened!

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IngsocInnerParty@reddit

Hopefully not on its own.

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

Be careful of Calvin

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

Do no let Calvin out

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MX5OLDGUY70@reddit

They are having a hell of a time getting the stabilization collar on! They lost control of it the first time they tried.

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8def8@reddit

Can you touch open the door heat shield

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anannanne@reddit

I feel like they should pop out of the pods with jazz hands and a “Ta-daaaaaaaaaa!” Fucking science.

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_austinm@reddit

Science, bitch!

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justrigt08@reddit

I've seen enough. 5 billion to NASA.

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rumpel_foreskin17@reddit

Very close to the Cortes Bank! Sick!

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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Elizabeth_268@reddit

We’re really back to “going to the Moon” being a normal sentence again. What a time to be alive.

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DatBeigeBoy@reddit

Fuck yeah!

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Birdnest_Hemingway@reddit

This is so cool, but because I've (admittedly) had a couple glasses of wine tonight that splash down is r/mildlypenis. AGAIN, very cool and glad crew are safe and penis

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julias-winston@reddit

Incredible. Amazing work, NASA. 🙏

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collegefootballfan69@reddit

The photography was better in the 1960’s

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_Lord-Kinbote_@reddit

I feel like a rock with a parachute isn’t aviation. Granted, pilots were on board, but what did they do that gravity couldn’t do? Not like they landed a space shuttle.

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Frank_the_NOOB@reddit

Welcome home

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avenueroad_dk@reddit

Shatner on CNN is cracking me up. He is practically hyperventilating

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Dense_Literature7964@reddit

Have they opened the door yet? 😭

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PENGTINGMAN@reddit

Did they get info about Sentinal Prime???

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Ambitious_Recipe_813@reddit

Did they finish their jar of nutella? Otherwise it could be auctioned for a pretty hefty price. Who doesn't want to put Astro-Nutella on their breakfast.

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bengenj@reddit

That jar of Nutella is probably heading to the Air and Space Museum lol

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LasVegasNerd28@reddit

Actually, it’s probably headed for a science lab lol. They’ve been telling them to stow unfinished snacks so they can do experiments on them.

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I_AM_FERROUS_MAN@reddit

Relieved and proud that we can still accomplish great things when we work together.

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choneybear7@reddit

Imagine being a highly trained and successful intelligent astronaut and people mocking you and thinking this is Hollywood special effects

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Comfortable-Force595@reddit

Guy has a beautiful voice

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Illustrious_Listen_6@reddit

So awesome!🥹

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LeanOnTheSquare@reddit

LETS GOOOOOOO

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TunnelCam@reddit

But some guy on Tik Tok said this didn’t happen!

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hughcifer-106103@reddit

the Fartemis has landed!

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Innerjade@reddit

Idk looks like it landed on the water to me, I dont see any earth

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SaturnSociety@reddit

Well written and delivered.

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MeanCat4@reddit

Ok man! Back to our shity life!

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LatinoEra@reddit

That's so freaking cool!! And I love how they drew a dick in the water after landing lol

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No-Hand-8359@reddit

Hell yea. Hopefully next we get the Blue Moon pathfinder launching this year

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ruggev@reddit

What a historic day! So proud of the work this administration has done to make this happen.

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NoTap8889@reddit

Talk about giving a reliable source

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

Source is from NASA

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RoyalChris@reddit (OP)

Source is from NASA