WATCH: Artemis II crew splashes down on Earth after historic trip around the moon

Want to catch up on the full Artemis II journey? You can watch the launch, learn about its historic distance record, see photos taken from the far side of the moon, meet the astronauts and understand the science of the splashdown.

HOUSTON (AP) — Artemis II's astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity's first lunar voyage in more than a half-century.

Watch in our video player above.

It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon's far side — never seen before by human eyes — but a total solar eclipse.

READ MORE: How will NASA get the Artemis II crew safely back on Earth? Here's the science behind splashdown

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA's Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot.

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout.

Thousands of miles away, the astronauts' families huddled in Mission Control's viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its communication blackout and again at splashdown.

"This is an incredible test of an incredible machine," NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said. "This has been a gift to the world from NASA."

Crew members Christina Koch and Victor Glover aboard a recovery ship after being extracted from the Artemis II capsule in the Pacific Ocean, following the Artemis II crew's flyby of the Moon, in this screengrab from a livestream video, April 10, 2026. NASA/Handout via Reuters

All eyes were on the capsule's life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft's only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield's charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.

PHOTOS: Boundary-breaking Artemis II captures view of Earthset from moon's far side

Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that "irrational fear that is human nature," especially during the six-minute blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew's arrival off the San Diego coast, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The Artemis II crew module separates from its service module in this screengrab from a livestream video as it prepares for re-entry to Earth following the Artemis II crew's flyby of the Moon, April 10, 2026. NASA/Handout via Reuters

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew's reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feet (11,025 meters) per second — or 24,661 mph (39,668 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Artemis II's record flyby and views of the moon

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA's long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.

During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, "just blew all of us away," Glover said.

READ MORE: Artemis II astronauts make long-distance call to space station on the way home from the moon

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8's famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

NASA held a news conference Thursday ahead of splashdown. Watch below.

"It just makes you want to continue to go back," Radigan said on the eve of splashdown. "It's the first of many trips and we just need to continue on because there's so much" more to learn about the moon.

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick "Project Hail Mary"; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV's original "Star Trek."

Artemis II was a test flight for future moon missions

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule's drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.

"We can't explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient," Koch said, "unless we're making a few sacrifices, unless we're taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it."

Added Hansen: "You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it's a doozy."

Earth is seen from a window of the Artemis II crew capsule in this screengrab from a livestream video minutes before its re-entry to Earth, following the Artemis II crew's flyby of the Moon, April 10, 2026. NASA/Handout via Reuters

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year's Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon's south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II astronauts' allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.

"But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted," he said.