---
type: source
title: "Artemis II crew splashes down successfully — crewed cislunar operations validated"
author: "NASA / CBS News / Space.com"
url: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/artemis-ii-splashdown-return/
date: 2026-04-10
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: news
status: processed
processed_by: astra
processed_date: 2026-04-11
priority: high
tags: [artemis, cislunar, crewed-spaceflight, nasa, orion, splashdown]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 40-50 miles off the coast of San Diego on April 10, 2026 at 8:07 p.m. ET. Mission Control declared "a perfect bullseye splashdown." Commander Reid Wiseman radioed that all four crew members are doing well.

Mission statistics: 700,237 miles total distance flown, peak velocity of 24,664 mph, flight path angle hit within 0.4% of target, entry range of 1,957 miles, landed within less than a mile of target. Recovery: crew extracted from Orion within two hours and flown to USS Murtha via helicopter.

Crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The 10-day mission included a lunar flyby on April 7, breaking Apollo 13's 1970 distance record.

No significant anomalies surfaced in public reporting. NASA described it as a nominal mission completion.

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** This closes the empirical loop on crewed cislunar operations. The question "can modern systems execute crewed lunar flyby round trips safely?" is now answered affirmatively. This is direct evidence for Belief 4 (cislunar attractor state achievable within 30 years) — the human capability component is demonstrated, not just theoretical.

**What surprised me:** The precision statistics are remarkable — 0.4% flight path angle accuracy, landing within 1 mile of target. These are operational-grade numbers, not test-flight numbers. It suggests Orion guidance and re-entry systems are mature.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any significant anomalies. Apollo-era missions had guidance issues, suit problems, and communication blackouts. Artemis II appears to have been essentially textbook.

**KB connections:**
- [[the 30-year space economy attractor state is a cislunar industrial system with propellant networks lunar ISRU orbital manufacturing and partial life support closure]] — human capability validated
- [[closed-loop life support is the binding constraint on permanent space settlement because all other enabling technologies are closer to operational readiness]] — Artemis II confirms that Orion ECLSS worked nominally for 10 days crewed

**Extraction hints:** Claim confirming crewed cislunar operations are empirically feasible with modern systems. Evidence level: direct observation. Confidence: proven (for Orion/SLS architecture specifically).

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[the 30-year space economy attractor state is a cislunar industrial system with propellant networks lunar ISRU orbital manufacturing and partial life support closure]]
WHY ARCHIVED: Closes the empirical validation thread from Artemis II launch. Key milestone: first successful crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 (1972), executed with modern systems.
EXTRACTION HINT: Extractor should assess whether this warrants a new "crewed cislunar operations are operationally feasible with modern systems" claim, or whether it's better as an evidence enrichment on the attractor state claim. Given precision stats, a standalone "proven" confidence claim may be warranted.
