NASA's historic Artemis 1 mission has come to a successful conclusion with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Baja California. The uncrewed Orion capsule splashed down on December 11th, 2022, completing its 1.4 million-mile (2.3 million kilometers) journey around the Moon. The splashdown marked the end of the first mission of NASA's Artemis program, which is aimed at sending astronauts to the Moon by 2024. "Today, we mark a major milestone for the Artemis program," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement. "The success of Artemis 1 is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our NASA and partner teams who worked tirelessly to make this mission a reality. This mission has laid the groundwork for the next phase of exploration, and we are ready to take the next steps on our journey to the Moon." The mission was designed to test the performance of the Orion spacecraft, which will be used to send astronauts to the Moon. During the mission, the spacecraft completed two orbits around the Moon and returned to Earth with valuable data that will inform future missions. The Artemis 1 mission is a major step forward in NASA's plans to send humans to the Moon. The next step in the Artemis program will be the launch of the Artemis 2 mission, which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby in 2023. After that, the Artemis 3 mission will send the first astronauts to the Moon's surface in 2024. NASA is now looking ahead to the future of the Artemis program, which includes plans to build a sustainable human presence on the Moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars. With the successful completion of Artemis 1, NASA is one step closer to achieving its ambitious goals.