Washington, April 10 (QNA) - The four astronauts participating in the Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed mission to the moon in more than half a century, began their return journey to Earth on Friday aboard their Orion spacecraft. They will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

The final phase of NASA's 10-day mission is expected to begin with the Orion crew capsule separating from its service module, followed by reentry through Earth's atmosphere and a six-minute interruption of radio communications before the capsule parachutes into the ocean.

The spacecraft launched on April 1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, toward its initial Earth orbit aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket. It then circled the far side of the moon, taking humans to unprecedented depths in space.

During the journey, the crew reached a point 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the previous record of approximately 248,000 miles set by the Apollo missions in 1970. (QNA)