The Stars My Destination: Artemis II Splashdown

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Destination Moon
10 April 2026: Wiseman, Glover, Koch, & Hansen conducted a third & final trajectory correction burn shortly before jettisoning the E.S.M., which subsequently burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Integrity entered the atmosphere travelling at 24,664 miles per hour, just shy of Apollo 10's record of 26,791 M.P.H. set in 1969. After the heat shield erosion seen on Artemis I, Artemis II bypassed the skip entry blamed for the unusual heating of Artemis I's heat shield & re-entered the atmosphere at a steeper direct trajectory.

The Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego, California at 5:07 P.M. Pacific Dayight Time. There were frustrating communications problems between the intrepid foursome & the Navy recovery team, but eventually divers reached the Integrity & attached the floatation collars & rafts necessary to extract Wiseman, Glover, Koch, & Hansen. The astonauts were individually winched up to hovering helicopters & flown to the recovery ship U.S.S. John P. Murtha (LPD-26). The Integrity was winched into the John P. Murtha's well deck & secured for transport to the Naval Base San Diego & then back to the Kennedy Space Center fora thorough post-flight examination & data retrival.

After the Artemis II mission, the astronauts met with the President of the United States in the Oval Office & made numerous other event & media appearances, the traditional post-Moon press tour last seen during the Apollo era. All four were awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on 28 August. In September, Jeremy Hansen (age fifty) retired from being a Canadian Space Agency astronaut & both Reid Wiseman (age fifty) & Victor Glover (age fifty) retired from being National Aeronautics & Space Administration astronauts. Only Christina Koch (age forty-seven) remains an active-duty astronaut & potential Moonwalker.

Bonus! Destination Moon Song o' the Day: Artemis II
Phillip Phillips, "Home" from The World from the Side of the Moon (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Artemis Program
2014
"The Explorers' Club," № MLXI: The 10th Anniversary of Exploration Flight Test-1
2022
Artemis I Launch
Artemis I Orbit
Artemis I Splashdown
The 1st Anniversary of Artemis I
2026
Artemis II Launch
Artemis II Flyby

Welcome back to the good Earth, Artemis II!

Ex Luna, scientia.