At a press conference following the safe splashdown of the Artemis II crew in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening, NASA officials hailed the historic 10-day mission and said bigger challenges lie ahead.
“So, ya’ll, we did it,” said Lori Haze, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
Howard Hu, NASA Orion program manager, said: “This is the start of a new era of human space exploration.”
By 2028, NASA plans to land a crew on the surface of the moon with the Artemis IV mission.
Lori Glaze (C), acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, speaks next to NASA’s associate administrator Amit Kshatriya (L) and NASA flight director Rick Henfling (R), during a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on April 10, 2026, after the Artemis II astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
Amit Kshatriya, associate NASA administrator, said the successful ending of the mission means “the path to the lunar surface is open,” but hard work remains ahead.
“Fifty-three years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we returned to stay,” Kshatriya said. “Let us finish what they started … Let us not go to plant flags and leave — but to stay.”
