Nasa’s Artemis II spacecraft has returned to Earth after completing its historic, record-breaking journey around the Moon.Just after 1am BST, the Orion module separated from the rest of the craft and plummeted down into the Pacific Ocean – after reentering our atmosphere at almost 25,000 miles per hour and enduring temperatures of 2,760C.It had earlier slowed down from that incredible speed to to just 20mph for a safe landing.The craft successfully deployed its parachutes and made its way into the sea off Southern California.Speaking from the USS John P Murtha, Nasa chief Jared Isaacman vowed it would not be a “once in a lifetime moment” – and that today was only the beginning.”It’s a huge moment for everybody,” he said. “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more.”I mean, this is not a once in a lifetime thing. No, it’s not. This is just the beginning. We are going to get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the Moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base.”PICTURED: The Orion capsule floats in the Pacific after splashdown | NASAMission Control, meanwhile, called the landing “a perfect bullseye splashdown”.There had been concerns over the capsule’s heat shield after the unmanned Artemis I test flight’s own coating flaked off.But on Saturday – or Friday afternoon, at 5.07pm local time – the manned mission made it back home in one piece.The crew’s homecoming cleared a critical final hurdle for the Lockheed Martin-built LMT.N Orion spacecraft, proving it would withstand the extreme forces of re-entry from space.At the peak of re-entry stress, as expected, intense heat and air compression formed a red-hot sheath of ionised gas, or plasma, that engulfed the capsule.This cut off radio communications with the crew for several minutes.PICTURED: The moment Nasa’s Artemis II spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific | NASACheers then broke out in Houston as comms were re-established with the crew five minutes before splashdown.Commander Reid Wiseman broke the team’s silence by saying: “Houston, we have you loud and clear.””What a journey,” he said as the crew splashed down. “We are stable one, four green crew members.”Nasa labelled their return a “textbook touchdown”.On the space agency’s live feed, an announcer can be heard saying the four astronauts are “in great condition” and “all in excellent shape”.Earlier, the gumdrop-shaped capsule was captured splitting off from the service module above our planet | NASACrewmembers Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have captivated the world since blasting off from Florida on April 1 | REUTERSPICTURED: The four crew members on their record-breaking journey around the Moon | NASAThe team of four captured incredible images of the Moon and the Earth – like this one | REUTERSSince Artemis II blasted off on April 1, Mr Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have captivated the world with their extraordinary images of the Moon and the Earth, and their updates from their journey into space.The four eventually travelled further from Earth than any humans in history.They reached a maximum distance of approximately 252,760 miles from our planet on Monday, shattering a record that had stood for more than half a century.In total, the quartet travelled some 694,392 miles across two Earth orbits.It marked the first crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions which aim to start landing astronauts on the lunar surface, starting in 2028.GB News understands President Donald Trump, who personally congratulated the team after they broke the distance record, was watching the splashdown from the Trump Winery in Virginia.He said on social media following their return: “Congratulations to the great and very talented crew of Artemis II. “The entire trip was spectacular, the landing was perfect and, as President of the United States, I could not be more proud! “I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon. We’ll be doing it again and then, next step, Mars!”