Artemis II Crew Poses with Orion 'Integrity' in Viral Post-Splashdown Photo After Historic Moon Flyby
SAN DIEGO — NASA released an iconic image Saturday showing the four Artemis II astronauts standing proudly beside their Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, in the well deck of the USS John P. Murtha just hours after a flawless Pacific Ocean splashdown that capped humanity's first crewed lunar voyage in more than half a century.
The photograph, posted by the official NASA Artemis account on X, captured Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen smiling in their launch-and-entry suits alongside the gumdrop-shaped capsule that carried them 252,756 miles from Earth and back.
" The astronauts. Their ride around the Moon," the agency captioned the image, which quickly amassed more than 11,000 likes and thousands of shares within hours of its release.
The crew splashed down off the coast of California at 8:07 p.m. EDT Friday after a nearly 10-day mission that tested Orion's life-support systems, re-entry capabilities and deep-space navigation in preparation for future lunar landings.
The astronauts. Their ride around the Moon. The Artemis II astronauts pose for a group photo after viewing their Orion spacecraft — which they named Integrity — in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha following their splashdown. pic.twitter.com/dLicqJPoox— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 11, 2026
The astronauts. Their ride around the Moon. The Artemis II astronauts pose for a group photo after viewing their Orion spacecraft — which they named Integrity — in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha following their splashdown. pic.twitter.com/dLicqJPoox
Navy recovery teams extracted the astronauts one by one onto an........
