After moon mission: Crew "healthy and happy" on Earth

The four "Artemis 2" astronauts on board the "Orion" capsule - US astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen - landed on schedule in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, according to the US space agency Nasa. It was a "picture-book landing".

Special forces from Nasa and the US Department of Defense helped the astronauts out of the capsule and then took them by helicopter to a special ship. Nasa chief Jared Isaacman received them personally and congratulated them on a "historic achievement". The astronauts waved and smiled at the cameras and put their thumbs up. The crew were "healthy and happy", according to Nasa. They will now be medically examined and then brought back to Houston.

US President Trump: landing was "perfect"

The moon mission was "spectacular" and the landing "perfect", commented US President Donald Trump on his online platform Truth Social. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the crew "home" and congratulated them on a "historic achievement".

The landing was a complicated maneuver in which the capsule reached speeds of up to around 38,400 kilometers per hour at times, exposing the astronauts to extreme physical stress. A special shield was used to protect the astronauts from the extreme heat to which the capsule is exposed on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. As planned, communication with the control center was lost for around six minutes. With the help of parachutes, the capsule then slowed down and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

First humans near the moon for more than 50 years

The four astronauts were the first humans near the moon for more than 50 years. They lifted off last week on board the Orion capsule with the Space Launch System rocket from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida.

It was the second flight into space for Glover, Koch and Wiseman and the first for Hansen. Koch became the first woman on board a NASA moon mission, Glover the first non-white person and Hansen the first Canadian.

A total of more than 2.3 million kilometers covered

The flight of "Artemis 2" was like a figure eight around the Earth and the moon. The four astronauts covered a total of more than 2.3 million kilometers. They flew around the moon and went further away from the Earth than anyone had ever gone before. With their "Orion" capsule, they broke the record set in 1970 by the "Apollo 13" mission of around 400,171 kilometers. At the furthest point, they were around 406,771 kilometers away from Earth. They approached the moon at around 6,545 kilometers. A landing was not planned for this mission.

During their flight around the moon, the astronauts observed the celestial body very closely for around seven hours. On the far side of the moon in particular, they were able to see things that no one had ever seen with their own eyes before, partly due to the solar conditions. As expected, it was not possible for the astronauts to communicate with the control center on Earth for around 40 minutes.

Towards the end of the flyby of the moon, the astronauts - wearing special glasses - were even able to observe a solar eclipse, during which the sun disappeared behind the moon from the perspective of "Orion".

Twelve Americans on the moon so far

The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969. The last person to walk on the moon was NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan, who died in 2017, on the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. Between 1969 and 1972, the USA was the only country to have put a total of twelve astronauts on the moon with the Apollo missions.

"Artemis 2" is now intended to be a major step towards a new lunar program - with the aim of manned landings and then a permanent human presence on Earth's satellite. The crew for the next planned lunar mission "Artemis 3" is to be announced soon, according to Nasa. The path to the moon is open, said Nasa manager Amit Kshatriya. "But there is more work ahead of us than behind us."