The orion spacecraft carrying the Artemis II crew is now on the final stretch home, with the astronauts closer to Earth than the moon as of Thursday morning, April 9, ET. NASA’s tracker showed the vehicle still had tens of thousands of miles to go before a planned water landing Friday, April 10, off the California coast. The four astronauts are ending a historic mission that took them farther from Earth than any human spacefarer before them.
Orion is on the final leg
As of Thursday morning, April 9, ET, the orion capsule was nearing 160, 000 miles from Earth, leaving the moon about 120, 000 miles behind. The crew was about nine days into the journey and less than two days from returning home, with the planned splashdown set for Friday evening off the coast of California.
The astronauts aboard the mission are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, along with Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. During a media conference, the four appeared to be in good spirits while taking questions as the mission moved into its closing phase.
What the crew has already achieved
The mission reached its most dramatic milestone on Monday, April 6, 2026, at 1: 56 p. m. ET, when the crew hit 248, 655 miles from Earth. That put the astronauts beyond the farthest distance ever traveled by humans, surpassing the Apollo 13 record from 1970.
The crew also traveled to the far side of the moon, seeing sights that no one else has experienced firsthand. During the lunar observation period, they used eclipse viewers to protect their eyes during a solar eclipse, marking the first use of eclipse glasses at the Moon to safely view such an event. The mission also included onboard images and observations from inside the orion spacecraft as the astronauts looked back at Earth.
Reactions from the mission
The clearest immediate reaction came during the crew’s media conference, where the astronauts appeared upbeat as they answered questions near the end of the flight. NASA’s mission updates have emphasized the historic scale of the journey and the fact that the crew has now moved into the return phase after setting the new distance record.
Those aboard the flight are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Their return timeline now points to a planned splashdown at approximately 8: 07 p. m. ET on Friday, April 10, off the coast of San Diego.
What happens next
The next major step is the Orion reentry and water landing, which will bring the Artemis II mission to a close if the schedule holds. In the hours ahead, the focus stays on the final miles, the planned splashdown window, and the safe recovery of the crew after a record-setting journey. For now, the mission is in its last stretch, and orion is almost home.
