Artemis II spotlights engineering of human spaceflight and ISRO’s progress

On April 10, the Orion crew capsule of the Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, at the end of a 10-day mission that carried four astronauts around the moon and back. The crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — travelled farther from the Earth than any humans in recorded history. According to messages relayed from the astronauts, the Artemis II mission went according to plan.

India stands to become the fourth nation worldwide to launch its own crewed spacecraft, after the Soviet Union, the U.S., and China. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said it will announce the date for the first uncrewed test flight, designated G1, in the coming week.