Artemis II Splashed Down as Alexandrians Cheered!
The United States sends astronauts to orbit the Moon.
Alexandria, VA – We had lift off and splash down!
Cheers erupted from Alexandria living rooms and neighborhood bars as residents gathered around television screens to watch NASA send astronauts back toward the Moon for the first time in more than half a century.
Mission:
On April 1, 2026 Nasa successfully launched the first phase of the Artemis II moonshot launch sending four astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen rocketing beyond low Earth orbit and into deep space for the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
Artemis II represents NASA’s first crewed deep-space mission since the Apollo era and serves as a precursor to future lunar landing missions later this decade.
The goal of phase one is to test the Spacecraft Orion’s performance in space and ensure it can safely handle humans before returning for the physical landing missions.
Orion is to orbit Earth twice after launch to test systems before performing a trans-lunar injection to go to the Moon. After orbiting the Moon, the crew will return in the Orion capsule, protected by a heat shield, aiming for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. The entire voyage is expected to take place over a 10 day span and is nearing completion.
On April 6, the mission broke the record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, reaching a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (approx. 406,771 km). This surpassed the 1970 record held by Apollo 13.
The crew completed a seven-hour flyby of the Moon on April 6, passing as close as 4,067 miles from the lunar surface. During this time, they captured historic images of the lunar far side and witnessed a solar eclipse from their unique vantage point.
While blast off took place at Kennedy Space Station on Merritt Island, Florida, 849 miles from Alexandria, our community has deep and personal ties to aeronautical technology and astronauts.
NASA in Alexandria:
In a region deeply tied to defense, aviation, and federal science agencies, the mission felt personal for many Alexandria residents.
You have only to pull up a stool or chat with someone on the street and they will tell you their personal connection to NASA, Space Tech, or memory of the Challenger tragedy in 1986.
One of the four astronauts, Navy Captain Victor Glover, is a local legend for famously participating in a 2020 Live Science Lesson from space for students from our very own Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy in Old Town Alexandria.
Student Andras Jacobson queried, “Do your muscles act differently in Space?” to which Glover explained that the lack of body weight makes movement, such as doing somersaults, feel entirely different.
Also, in a December 2020 interview in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Victor Glover called on students to express teamwork through art.
“We ask that you join us in our commitment to excellence, teamwork, and communication. All teams need diverse members in terms of their backgrounds, skill sets, and ways of thinking. So, I’m asking all of you to come together to complete a project about teamwork. I want you to show me what teamwork looks like in your life. Whether it’s on a sports team, at your school, or in your community, but I want you to do it through art. The arts allow us to uniquely express ourselves and connect with one another in new and exciting ways. Coming together through the arts can help us create a better and more beautiful world.”
Lyles-Crouch students have participated in this Victor Glover and Alma Thomas (A Washington DC Artist known for her artworks inspired by light and Space) inspired art project since then with collage dash painting lining the schools halls.
Outer Space less than an hour away:
For Alexandrians, space exploration often feels surprisingly close to home. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., Steven F. Udvar-Hazey center in Chantilly, Virginia, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland all within a one hour drive from our city limits.
A collective sigh of relief was felt across Alexandria and across the nation as our four astronauts splashed down outside of San Diego and have been leading a whirlwind of a feel good press tour!
For many Alexandrians, Artemis II was more than a successful mission. It was a reminder that the next era of exploration is no longer a distant dream, but something unfolding in real time — close enough to inspire the students already painting rockets and stars in local school hallways.
