Staff Reports
America’s astronauts have come home, and they came home the American way — with skill, courage, and a splashdown off the California coast on April 10, 2026 that closed out a nearly 10‑day journey to the Moon and back. The successful recovery of the Orion capsule marked the end of a mission that tested American engineering and American nerve on the high frontier.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen rode the capsule Integrity back through reentry and were plucked from the Pacific by a joint NASA and U.S. military recovery team before transfer to the USS John P. Murtha for medical checks. This was teamwork in action — the best of our military and civilian institutions working together to bring our people home.
The mission began with a powerful SLS liftoff from Kennedy Space Center on April 1 and executed a free‑return flyby of the Moon, skimming the far side and returning on a trajectory designed to prove systems and procedures for future surface landings. Orion and her crew ran through critical life‑support, manual‑control, and emergency drills — the real testing Americans expect, not endless committees.
Artemis II didn’t just complete its checklist; it shattered a distance record, carrying humans 252,756 miles from Earth and logging nearly 695,000 miles in total — farther than any crew since the Apollo era. That accomplishment is a reminder that when this country sets priorities and funds them, American teams deliver historic results.
Let’s be blunt: this mission proves the value of a focused national purpose. Conservatives should be the loudest champions of a bold space program that creates high‑paying jobs, drives technology, and restores American leadership — not the side that quietly trims funding because someone in Washington prefers cheap headlines to long‑term national strength.
Now the work turns to Artemis III and returning Americans to the lunar surface, building an enduring presence, and using the Moon as a springboard to Mars. Congress and the next administration would do well to remember this splashdown as proof that investing in American excellence pays dividends for every hardworking family in this country.
