James Cutmore Aaaand breathe. After 10 extraordinary days in deep space, the crew of Artemis II has splashed down safely on Earth – marking the first time humans have travelled to the Moon since 1972. Lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 1 April 2026, the mission carried four astronauts to lunar orbit by 5 April. A day later, they passed behind the Moon, losing all contact with Earth – a silence not experienced by any human crew since the Apollo program.