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Former U.S. Barack Obama (2009-2017) congratulated the crew of the Artemis II mission this Saturday after their successful splashdown, while describing the achievement as a testament to the bravery of the astronauts and human ingenuity.
Through his account on the social network X, the former president highlighted that the four astronauts traveled farther from Earth than any human in history, re-entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 km/h, and safely landed in the ocean.
"What the Artemis II astronauts accomplished over the last 10 days was a testament to their bravery. The fact that they traveled farther from Earth than anyone else before, re-entered our atmosphere at over 24,000 mph, and landed safely was a testament to human ingenuity. Thanks to everyone at NASA for making this mission possible and for taking us along for the ride," wrote Obama.
The Artemis II mission concluded this Friday when the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, about 110 kilometers off the coast of San Diego, California, at 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time, after 10 days in space and over 1.1 million kilometers traveled to and from the Moon.
The crew was comprised of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
Glover became the first African American to participate in a crewed lunar mission, Koch the first woman on such a mission, and Hansen the first Canadian citizen to orbit the Moon.
It was also the first crewed flight to orbit the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972, over 50 years ago.
On April 6, the mission broke the record for the greatest distance traveled by humans from Earth, reaching 406,773 kilometers, surpassing the 400,171 kilometers of Apollo 13 in April 1970, a record that stood for more than 56 years and was officially recognized by the Guinness World Record.
During that phase, the spacecraft passed just 6,543 kilometers from the surface of the far side of the Moon, with a communication blackout of 40 minutes with Earth.
Reentry was one of the most critical moments of the mission, as the capsule entered the atmosphere at approximately 40,233 km/h, about 35 times the speed of sound, enduring forces of up to 3.9 G.
After the landing, the crew was retrieved by combined teams from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Army and transferred to the USS John P. Murtha.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman summed up the achievement with a powerful statement: "The United States has once again sent astronauts to the Moon and safely brought them back."
The president Trump also reacted to the successful landing on Truth Social. "Congratulations to the great and very talented Artemis II team! The entire journey was spectacular, the landing was perfect, and as president of the United States, I couldn't be prouder!" he wrote.
Trump had already spoken via video call with the astronauts on April 6, when the spacecraft was on the dark side of the Moon, and told them, "You have made history," announcing that the next step in the U.S. space program is Mars.
The Artemis program aims for a lunar landing at the south pole with Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, and the eventual exploration of the red planet.
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