SAN DIEGO: The NASA spacecraft carrying four astronauts splashed down as planned Friday off the California coast, capping the US space agency's successful crewed test mission around the Moon, the first such flyby in more than 50 years.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman reported that the crewmembers -- himself along with Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen -- were "stable" and "green."
"They're in great condition, that's what that means," said Rob Navias, the NASA public affairs official who narrated their return on the agency's livestream.
Following a brief but nerve-wracking communications blackout during their high-stakes re-entry, mission commander Wiseman's voice triggered relief that the astronauts were well on their way back home.
"Houston. Integrity. We have you loud and clear," he said following a voice check from mission control.
NASA and the US military will now help them leave the bobbing capsule, after which they will be flown to a recovery ship off the Pacific coast near San Diego.
As the astronauts returned to Earth their spacecraft reached maximum speeds more than 30 times the speed of sound, and faced searing temperatures around half as hot as the surface of the Sun. It was a key test of their heat shield, which in an earlier trial mission had faced complications.
But the Artemis II re-entry went off without a hitch.
"This was a textbook entry and a textbook touchdown," said Navias.
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