NASA has confirmed that the Orion spacecraft from the Artemis II mission has exited the lunar sphere of influence, the boundary where the Moon’s gravitational pull gives way to Earth’s. The four astronauts aboard are now firmly on their return trajectory, with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean scheduled for Friday, April 10, 2026.
The update was shared on Tuesday by the official NASA Artemis account on X. Mission control noted that the crew was in their post-sleep period and preparing for the day when the milestone occurred.
We anticipate that the Orion spacecraft has now departed the lunar sphere of influence — this is when the gravitational pull of the Moon is stronger than the gravitational pull of Earth.
The Artemis II crew are headed home. Splashdown will take place on Friday, April 10. pic.twitter.com/uZC3YZf45N
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 7, 2026
Artemis II, which launched earlier this month, marked the first time humans have traveled to the vicinity of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew completed a flawless lunar flyby, capturing breathtaking high-resolution images of the Moon’s cratered surface and Earth rising over the lunar horizon that have already captivated the world.
With the return phase now underway, NASA teams are monitoring Orion’s systems for the critical atmospheric reentry and parachute-assisted splashdown. The mission paves the way for Artemis III, the planned crewed lunar landing later in the decade.
The successful departure from lunar gravity is being hailed as another engineering triumph for the Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars.
