Current Affairs
Artemis II Crew Splashes Down Safely After Flying Around the Moon
Four NASA astronauts returned to Earth on 11 April 2026 after completing the Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight to travel around the Moon since 1972.
54 yearsTime since humans last travelled to the Moon's vicinity, before Artemis II
The facts
- 1The Artemis II crew of four astronauts flew around the Moon and returned safely, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on 11 April 2026.
- 2This was the first time humans had travelled to the Moon's vicinity in 54 years, since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
- 3The mission did not land on the Moon — it was a flyby to test the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket with a crew on board.
- 4NASA plans to use the data from Artemis II to prepare for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon's south pole.
- 5Indian-American engineer Amit Kshatriya served as a senior NASA official overseeing key parts of the Artemis programme.
Why it matters
Artemis II shows that humans can travel to the Moon again after more than 50 years. Future missions plan to land on the Moon and study its surface, which could help scientists learn more about space and even prepare for trips to Mars.
Sources
- NASA
- The Hindu
