Artemis II astronauts return home

NASA has released heartwarming footage of the Artemis II recovery crew opening the Orion capsule hatch and welcoming its four-member crew back to Earth.

The mission, which included the first humans to travel to the vicinity of the moon in over 50 years, concluded with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen were greeted by Navy divers and medical teams for initial assessments.

NASA is now investigating how well the spacecraft's heat shield protected the crew during their high-speed return through the atmosphere.

The agency is already looking ahead to future lunar missions and the development of nuclear power in space.