Marcia Dunn reports that NASA’s Artemis II crew returned to Houston to a celebratory homecoming, with the agency immediately pointing to the next steps in the Artemis program after a moon flyby and safe return. At a Saturday event that followed the crew’s Pacific splashdown on Friday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman introduced Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen.
Isaacman said the milestone marked an end to what he described as a long wait “to people all around the world who look up and dream about what is possible.” Following the return, NASA said it already has Artemis III in its sights and has begun moving toward the skills needed for crewed lunar landings after a flyby.
Flight director Rick Henfling said the timing for what comes next is close. “The next mission’s right around the corner,” Henfling observed after the splashdown, as NASA prepared to reunite the astronauts with their families in Houston and shift attention to the agency’s next flight.
Artemis III, which NASA said had been added to the docket for next year, will focus on a high-stakes rehearsal: astronauts yet to be named will practice docking the Orion capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. NASA said the Artemis III crew will test the docking approach as a way to reduce risk for the later landings that follow.
Commercial competition is already part of the roadmap. Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to have their landers ready first, and the latest docking-related hardware for the Artemis III practice has been placed at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The latest model Starship is close to launching on a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down Blue Moon is set to attempt a lunar landing later this year, according to the reporting.
Looking further ahead, Musk’s Starship and Bezos’ Blue Moon are also competing for the Artemis IV moon landing targeted for 2028. The mission would send two astronauts toward the lunar south polar region, which Isaacman has described as the preferred location for a planned moon base, tied to the expectation that ice exists in permanently shadowed craters and could be used for water and rocket fuel.
NASA also contrasted the program’s modern approach with Apollo-era crew culture and reminded audiences why the near-term flights matter. Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart said he loved flying in low-Earth orbit, calling it “a test pilot’s dream,” while adding that “the real astronauts” in the public’s mind were the ones who walked on the moon.
During Artemis II’s nearly 10-day journey, the astronauts used personal time for reflection as they traveled around the moon and back. They tearfully requested that a fresh, bright lunar crater be named after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020, and they also shared their affection for one another and for Planet Earth.
Officials said the difficulty is both technical and emotional. Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said the hardest part is becoming so close to crews and their families and then launching them again, while he described anxiously monitoring Friday’s reentry alongside the astronauts’ spouses and children.
Wiseman delivered a rallying message at the homecoming celebration, calling for the next group to prepare with determination. He told the astronauts in blue flight suits: “It is time to go and be ready,” adding, “because it takes courage. It takes determination,” and he said they were “freaking” going while he and his crew would stand ready to support them.
As covered in MSI previously reported that Artemis II returned after its record-setting lunar flyby, the homecoming marked both a finish and a handoff—Artemis II closed out the flyby chapter, while NASA, its astronauts, and commercial partners set their focus on the docking rehearsal of Artemis III and the landing ambitions that follow.