Artemis II astronauts return to Earth

An elated NASA was celebrating late Friday its successful voyage around the Moon, after four astronauts safely returned to Earth having completed the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years.

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The NASA spacecraft carrying four astronauts - three Americans and one Canadian - splashed down without a hitch off the California coast, capping the US space agency’s crewed test mission that returned with spectacular images of the Moon.

“What a journey,” said mission commander Reid Wiseman, who reported that the Artemis II crewmembers - himself along with Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen - were “stable” and “green.”

“They're in great condition, that’s what that means,” said Rob Navias, the NASA public affairs official who narrated their return on the agency’s livestream.

Following an expected but nerve-wracking communications blackout during their high-stakes re-entry, Wiseman's voice triggered relief that the astronauts were well on their way back home.

"We have you loud and clear," he said following a voice check from mission control in Houston.

NASA personnel and the US military helped extract the astronauts from the bobbing capsuleto the applause of those watching from mission control.

By late Friday, helicopters had lifted the astronauts to a recovery ship off the Pacific coast near San Diego, where they all proved capable of walking unassisted.