#ArtemisII is the hashtag for NASA’s April 1–11, 2026 crewed lunar flyby — the first humans beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first crewed flight of both the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The mission reset the distance record humans have traveled in space and surged a second time in May when NASA released more than 12,000 previously unseen in-flight photographs.
Quick Facts
- Mission dates: April 1 – April 11, 2026
- Crew: Reid Wiseman (CDR), Victor Glover (PLT), Christina Koch (MS), Jeremy Hansen (MS, CSA)
- Spacecraft: Orion, named Integrity by the crew
- Rocket: Space Launch System (SLS) — first crewed flight
- Splashdown: April 10, 2026, 5:07 p.m. PDT, off the California coast
- Distance record: 252,756 miles from Earth (surpassing Apollo 13’s 248,655)
What Happened
Artemis II launched on April 1, 2026 and spent ten days carrying its four-person crew on a free-return trajectory around the Moon — close enough to photograph the lunar far side at scale but not a landing. It was the first crewed lunar flight in 54 years, and the first time anyone had ridden the SLS rocket or the Orion capsule. The crew named Orion Integrity. On April 10, Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off California’s coast and was recovered by U.S. Navy ships in coordination with #NASA recovery teams.
Reactions
Coverage on splashdown day dominated cable news and social feeds, with CNN running rolling live coverage and NASA’s own livestream peaking near the recovery window. The mission was widely framed as the validation that the Artemis program needed after years of schedule slips, and as a proof-of-concept for the Artemis III crewed lunar landing that follows. NASA’s farthest-distance record — beating Apollo 13’s mark held since April 1970 — became the headline factoid that traveled furthest on X and astronomy accounts.
Aftermath
The hashtag’s second surge came on May 4, 2026, when NASA released a tranche of more than 12,000 photographs the crew had taken during the mission — shot on a combination of Nikon D5 SLR, Nikon Z9 mirrorless, and consumer iPhone 17 cameras carried in the cabin. Coverage in PetaPixel, Live Science, and Daily Galaxy highlighted shots of Earth and the lunar far side that had never been seen before, and the drop reignited #ArtemisII engagement weeks after splashdown. The mission also set up Artemis III, the planned 2027 crewed lunar landing that will return humans to the Moon’s surface for the first time since 1972.
Variations & Related Tags
The mission circulated under #ArtemisII, #Artemis2, and the spacecraft’s crew name #Integrity, anchored to #NASA and the broader Artemis program.
Sources
- https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-welcomes-record-setting-artemis-ii-moonfarers-back-to-earth/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_II
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/science/live-news/artemis-2-splashdown-astronauts-return
- https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/nasa-just-released-12-000-more-artemis-ii-photos-here-are-a-dozen-of-our-favorites
- https://petapixel.com/2026/05/04/nasa-releases-thousands-of-unseen-artemis-ii-photos/