'Proud American today!' - Cheers, applause and patriotism as Artemis II crew splashes down

Hundreds of people packed the San Diego Air & Space Museum on Friday (April 10) to watch the Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after nearly 10 days in space.

People were seen erupting into cheers and applause as NASA's gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule parachuted gently into calm seas off the Southern California coast.

The Artemis II flight, traveling a total of 694,392 miles (1,117,515 km) in two Earth orbits and a climactic lunar flyby, was the debut crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions that aim to return astronauts to the lunar surface starting in 2028.

The splashdown, under partly cloudy skies about two hours before sunset, was carried by live video feed in a NASA webcast. "A perfect bull's eye splashdown for Integrity and its four astronauts," NASA commentator Rob Navias said moments after the landing.

-Arafat Barbakh, Minwoo Park/Reuters