The Empire State Building honored the Artemis II astronauts with a light display of red, white, and blue to mark the crew’s successful return to Earth on Friday (10 April). US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after returning from the Moon. It was a fiery descent lasting about 15 minutes, finishing around 7:07pm ET on Friday. NASA described it as a “perfect” return to Earth for the crew.

On Wednesday, two days after their moon flyby, the crew of the Artemis II mission settled in for a day of preparation to return to Earth.

NASA’s four Artemis II astronauts return to Earth after a historic moon mission, with Orion set for Pacific splashdown shortly after 8 p.m. ET.