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As millions of people held their breath, the four Artemis II astronauts flawlessly splashed down back to Earth in the Orion capsule, ending their history-making 10-day mission to the moon and back.

"We are back in the business of sending astronauts back to the moon. This is just the beginning," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the deck of USS John P. Murtha, which is acting as the recovery ship for the Orion spacecraft.

“I’m honestly still at a loss for words,” a jubilant Isaacman said. "The childhood Jared right now can’t believe what I just saw."

The splashdown, which happened in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. EDT / 5:07 p.m. PDT, followed a harrowing and dangerous reentry, where NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen, traveled at speeds up to 25,000 mph ‒ possibly faster than humans have ever traveled.

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The astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis II have now traveled farther from Earth than any other humans in history, breaking the Apollo 13 record.

"As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats as our predecessors in human space exploration," Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, said from the spaceship. "We will continue our journey even further into space before mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything we hold dear. While, we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived."

This flight was to test life support on the spaceships and make observations of the moon's surface.

Artemis II will continue to travel the rest of Monday and this evening, they will become the first humans to view certain parts of the moon with unaided eyes, as well as hit the 252,760-mile mark from Earth, breaking Apollo 13's record by about 4,070 miles.

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It has only been a couple days since NASA successfully launched astronauts to the moon for the first time in over half a century. But the Artemis II mission's four-person crew has already delivered striking postcards from their journey: behind-the-scenes photos of what they've been up to in the cabin, and jaw-dropping visuals of the planet we call home.

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman snapped a photo of the Earth nearly eclipsing the Sun, and what's known as zodiacal light nearby — which, during an eclipse, takes a triangular shape when sunlight bounces off of dust particles. In the same image, Earth is flanked by the northern and southern auroras at its top right and bottom left.

Another photo, also by Wiseman, shows Earth's terminator line, which separates day from night.

The crew is working with NASA's science team to determine what other photos may be of interest once they start to orbit the moon, said Lakiesha Hawkins, the acting deputy associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

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Snow surveys taking place across the American west this week are offering a grim prognosis, after a historically warm winter and searing March temperatures left the critical snowpack at record-low levels across the region.

Experts warned that even as the heat begins to subside, the stunning pace of melt-off over the past month has left key basins in uncharted territory for the dry seasons ahead. Though there’s still potential for more snow in the forecast, experts said it will probably be too little too late.

“This year is on a whole other level,” said Dr Russ Schumacher, a Colorado State University climatologist, speaking about the intense heat that began rapidly melting the already sparse snowpack in March. “Seeing this year so far below any of the other years we have data for is very concerning.”

Acting as a water savings account of sorts, snowpacks are essential to water supply. Measurements taken across the west during the week of 1 April are viewed as important indicators of the peak amounts of water that might melt into reservoirs, rivers and streams and across thirsty landscapes through the summer.

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We have liftoff!

NASA's long-awaited return trip to the moon's orbit launched on Wednesday, April 1 as crowds of people watched in awe to see the Artemis II mission take off in Florida.

The Orion capsule lifted off at about 6:35 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four astronauts on board are now in orbit around the Earth on their historic mission to orbit the moon, though not land on this trip.

“We are going for all humanity,” astronaut Jeremy Hansen said seconds before lifting off.

NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson responded to Hansen and the other three astronauts that they're taking with them "the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation.”

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There’s a comet blazing through our solar system this month.

Starting around April 5, Comet C/2026 A1 MAPS will be roughly 89 million miles from Earth, making its closest approach to the sun. That’s close enough that the comet could be visible to the naked eye in New York City.

This month's astronomical agenda also includes the first manned moon launch in 50 years, weather permitting. April will be capped with the Lyrids meteor shower.

“April is a busy month for the night sky,” said Bart Fried, member of the American Astronomical Society. “”You got a lot of cool stuff happening this month.”

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