{"id":309812,"date":"2026-04-11T14:52:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T12:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/test-pilots-return-from-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:36:56","slug":"test-pilots-return-from-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/test-pilots-return-from-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Test Pilots Return From the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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Inside were four people who had just done something no human being had done in more than half a century: they had flown to the Moon and back.\n\nNASA\u2019s Artemis II mission \u2014 a ten-day flight that sent the Orion spacecraft around the lunar far side and set a new record for the farthest distance any human has ever travelled from Earth \u2014 ended with what Mission Control called a perfect bullseye splashdown. Within two hours, the crew was aboard the USS John P. Murtha, grinning and very much alive.\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4f8;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:18px 0 28px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Mission:<\/strong> Artemis II (first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Duration:<\/strong> 10 days<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Splashdown:<\/strong> April 10, 2026, 8:07 PM ET, Pacific Ocean off San Diego<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Commander:<\/strong> Reid Wiseman (Navy test pilot, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/fa-18-hornet\">F\/A-18<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\">F-35C<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Pilot:<\/strong> Victor Glover (Navy test pilot, F\/A-18, EA-18G Growler)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Mission Specialists:<\/strong> Christina Koch (NASA) &amp; Jeremy Hansen (CSA)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Record:<\/strong> Farthest distance from Earth ever travelled by humans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Test Pilots to the Moon<\/h2>\n\nThe Artemis II crew is, at its core, a test pilot crew \u2014 and that is not a coincidence. This was a shakedown flight for the most complex spacecraft NASA has ever built, and the agency wanted pilots who had spent their careers wringing the limits out of experimental machines.\n\nCommander Reid Wiseman flew F\/A-18 Hornets for the Navy before attending the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland. After graduating, he was assigned to VX-23, the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron, where he worked on flight-test programmes for the F-35C Lightning II, F\/A-18 weapons separation, and the T-45 Goshawk trainer. In other words: before NASA trusted him with a spacecraft, the Navy trusted him with aircraft that had never been fully proven.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/5\/56\/Orion_with_ATV_SM.jpg\/960px-Orion_with_ATV_SM.jpg\" alt=\"NASA Orion spacecraft\" style=\"display:block;width:100%!important;max-width:100%!important;height:auto!important;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Orion spacecraft \u2014 the vehicle that carried the Artemis II crew around the Moon and back. NASA \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\nPilot Victor Glover followed a similar path. A Naval Aviator and test pilot, Glover flew the F\/A-18 Hornet, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/fa-18-super-hornet\">Super Hornet<\/a>, and EA-18G Growler at VX-31, the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. He has logged thousands of flight hours across more than 40 aircraft types, with over 400 carrier arrested landings and 24 combat missions. He is also the first African American to serve on a lunar mission crew.\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What They Proved<\/h2>\n\nArtemis II was not a landing mission. The crew did not touch the lunar surface. What they did was arguably more important for the programme\u2019s future: they proved that NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket, the Orion capsule, and all of its life-support systems actually work with human beings aboard. Every previous Artemis flight had been uncrewed.\n\nThe mission tested Orion\u2019s navigation, communication, and re-entry systems in real conditions \u2014 the kind of conditions that cannot be fully simulated on the ground. The crew flew farther from Earth than any human in history, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. And they came home through one of the most demanding re-entry profiles ever attempted, punching through the atmosphere at speeds that would vaporise any unprotected object.\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Aviation Connection<\/h2>\n\nEvery major human spaceflight programme in history has been built on the shoulders of test pilots \u2014 aviators trained to take unproven machines to their limits, document what happens, and bring them home. The Mercury astronauts were test pilots. The Gemini and Apollo crews were test pilots. The Space Shuttle commanders were test pilots. And now Artemis continues that tradition.\n\nWiseman and Glover did not become astronauts by accident. They became astronauts because they spent years doing exactly what astronauts do \u2014 flying dangerous, experimental aircraft with precision and calm \u2014 in Navy cockpits long before they ever saw a spacecraft. The path from carrier deck to lunar orbit runs through the same skills: systems thinking, risk management, and the ability to make perfect decisions when everything is happening very fast.\n\nArtemis III, the first lunar landing mission, is now expected within the next two years. When those astronauts step onto the Moon, they will be standing on a foundation that test pilots built.\n\n<p style=\"font-style:italic;color:#888;margin-top:32px\">Sources: NASA, Space.com, CNN, NBC News<\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<!-- mf-faq -->\n\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style><h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>What was the Artemis II mission?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Artemis II was NASA's first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. The ten-day flight sent the Orion spacecraft and four astronauts around the Moon's far side, setting a record for the farthest distance humans have ever travelled from Earth. It ended with a \"bullseye\" splashdown in the Pacific off San Diego on April 10, 2026.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>When did Artemis II splash down?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The Artemis II crew splashed down at 8:07 PM Eastern Time on April 10, 2026, in the Pacific Ocean about forty miles off the coast of San Diego. The capsule re-entered the atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour, and within two hours the four astronauts were safely aboard the recovery ship USS John P. Murtha.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Who were the Artemis II astronauts?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Artemis II was commanded by Reid Wiseman, a US Navy test pilot who flew the F\/A-18 and F-35C, with Victor Glover as pilot. Glover, also a Navy test pilot, flew the F\/A-18 Hornet, Super Hornet, and EA-18G Growler, and became the first African American assigned to a lunar mission crew.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Were the Artemis II astronauts test pilots?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>Yes. Both Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover trained at the US Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River before joining NASA. Wiseman worked on flight-test programmes for the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/blackbeard-hypersonic-missile-super-hornet-navy-order\/\">F\/A-18 Super Hornet<\/a> and F-35C; Glover logged thousands of hours across more than 40 aircraft types, with over 400 carrier landings and 24 combat missions.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>What was the last crewed mission to the Moon before Artemis II?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>The last crewed lunar mission before Artemis II was Apollo 17 in 1972 \u2014 more than half a century earlier. The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/aero-spacelines-guppy-flying-whales-built-apollo\/\">Apollo programme<\/a> relied on a vast logistics chain, and Artemis II marked the first time humans had flown to the Moon and back since then.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\"><summary>Did Artemis II land on the Moon?<\/summary><div class=\"mf-faq-answer\"><p>No. Artemis II was a crewed flyby, not a landing. The crew flew the Orion spacecraft around the lunar far side to prove the vehicle and its life-support systems could safely carry astronauts to the Moon and back, paving the way for a landing on a later Artemis flight.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Artemis II mission?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Artemis II was NASA's first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. 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Wiseman worked on flight-test programmes for the <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/blackbeard-hypersonic-missile-super-hornet-navy-order\/\\\">F\/A-18 Super Hornet<\/a> and F-35C; Glover logged thousands of hours across more than 40 aircraft types, with over 400 carrier landings and 24 combat missions.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the last crewed mission to the Moon before Artemis II?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The last crewed lunar mission before Artemis II was Apollo 17 in 1972 \u2014 more than half a century earlier. 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Inside were four people who had just done something no human [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":310255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Artemis II Returns: Test Pilots Come Home From the Moon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At 8:07 PM Eastern Time on April 10, 2026, a blackened capsule trailing a wake of superheated plasma punched through Earth\u2019s atmosphere at 25,000 miles\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/test-pilots-return-from-the-moon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Artemis II Returns: Test Pilots Come Home From the Moon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At 8:07 PM Eastern Time on April 10, 2026, a blackened capsule trailing a wake of superheated plasma punched through Earth\u2019s atmosphere at 25,000 miles\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/test-pilots-return-from-the-moon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - 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