Historic Moon Mission Concludes With Splashdown Of Orion Capsule

NASA's Landing and Recovery Team practices recovering an Orion capsule ahead of the Artemis I Orion splashdown — Kenneth Allen / NASA

BAJA, Ca. (Newsource) – The historic Artemis I mission came to a momentous end Sunday as NASA’s Orion spacecraft made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California.

The mission sent the uncrewed spacecraft on a trip around the moon for a little over 25 days to test whether its capsule could make a safe return to Earth.

Now that it has cleared that hurdle, NASA is looking to choose a crew of astronauts to fly the Artemis II mission, which could take off as soon as 2024.

Artemis II will aim to send astronauts on a similar trajectory as Artemis I, flying around the moon but not landing on its surface.

Then, the Artemis III mission, currently slated for a 2025 launch, is expected to put boots back on the moon, and NASA officials have said it will include the first woman and first person of color to achieve such a milestone.