NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission splashes down Sunday in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California after a 25.5 day mission to the moon. Orion was recovered by NASA’s Landing and Recovery team, the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense partners aboard the USS Portland, which took the capsule to the port of San Diego. The uncrewed mission sets the stage for a program that is slated, during this decade, to bring astronauts back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. NASA’s goal is to put the first first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color on the moon during the Artemis 3 mission, which is scheduled for 2025. Before that, Artemis 2 will take a crewed spacecraft to the moon’s orbit and back in 2024.
