Artemis II Orion Crew Module Returns to KSC

NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the agency’s Artemis II mission arrives at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Multi-Payload Processing Facility in Florida on Thursday, April 30, 2026, for de-servicing operations on the spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down on Friday, April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean following its approximate 10-day journey around the Moon carrying NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen. As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, Artemis II marked another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars.