Artemis II crew in Orion spacecraft back on Earth

The crew members of Artemis II splashed down off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. on Friday.

The U.S. military is now approaching the spacecraft in inflatable boats. The crew will be extracted from Orion and then flown to the USS John P. Murtha. U.S. Navy helicopters will then transport them to the ship.

The astronauts will undergo post-mission medical evaluations before returning to shore to board an aircraft bound for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Orion will be put on a ship. Four additional tending lines will be secured to attachment points on the crew module while under tow.

After it is secured aboard the ship, teams will return Orion to U.S. Naval Base San Diego before returning it to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection.

The Artemis II mission is the first crewed flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The four astronauts, Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, went on a 10-day journey. Orion was pulled back naturally by Earth’s gravity for the free return portion of the mission.