CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The USS John P. Murtha, an amphibious transport dock ship, left port on Tuesday for the NASA Artemis II mission’s splashdown target zone.
Four astronauts were on their way back home to Earth after flying over the moon and sending more than 50 gigabytes of data they collected.
Mission Control in Houston arranged a historic call between the Canadian and American astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft and the French and American astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
“It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive,” Astronaut Christina Koch told ISS Crew-12 commander Jessica Meir about the view from inside Orion.
Koch also talked about “the funny and practical” from how to eat" to “how to do silly things with water” and “how to flip around.”
On Monday, minutes before the Artemis II mission’s Orion spacecraft shattered Apollo 13’s 1970 distance record, a camera recorded a flying jar of Nutella hazelnut spread. The free ad went viral.
The astronauts on the Artemis II mission are set to return to Earth on Friday in the Pacific.
The Artemis III mission will have a lunar lander go around the Earth’s orbit in 2027, and the Artemis IV mission will have two astronauts land on the moon in 2028.
Interactive graphic on the mission
Related stories
- Artemis II astronauts make long-distance call to the space station as they head home from the moon
- Artemis II astronauts channel Apollo 8 with a striking Earthset photo
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
