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Artemis II Splashdown
Offshore San Diego, CA : April 10, 2026

I had been up in Auburn, CA, babysitting my plane through its annual inspection, frustrated I would miss Artemis II's return to San Diego, but a confluence of events saw me make the 9 hour drive to San Diego to catch a ride in a friend's Tiger to see it come home after its historic journey.

From an altitude of 12000', about 18nm offshore San Diego, the three of us aboard got to watch Integrity splash down about 18nm further to the southwest of us. A number of other aircraft were up trying to do the same, but as far as we know, we're the only ones who actually spotted it.

Official splashdown time 00:07:27Z (April 11), 5:07PM local time. Image timestamps in UTC based on camera GPS.

Splashdown site approximately 32°21'N 117°44'W based on my estimate of recovery aircraft position.

Photo ship pilot: Michal Koenig

Not the recovery ship...
Neither is this one...
Recovery ship USS John P Murtha (LPD-26)
00:05:34Z Uncropped image of our inital sighting

00:05:35Z At this point, Integrity already below 5000' per NASA PAO commentary
00:05:44Z
00:05:49Z
00:05:58Z

00:06:08Z Uncropped view
00:06:29Z
00:06:46Z At this point, Integrity at 1000' per NASA PAO commentary
00:06:53Z The forward bay cover (circled) can be seen ; it's under smaller chutes that aren't visible

00:06:56Z
00:07:01Z
00:07:04Z
00:07:13Z

00:07:15Z
00:07:18Z
00:07:23Z Faint reflection of chute in the water below the capsule?
00:07:25Z The forward bay cover hit the water nearby just before the capsule did

00:07:26Z Splashdown!
00:07:26Z
00:07:28Z
00:07:29Z

00:07:33Z
00:07:37Z
00:12:56Z
00:13:01Z Fastboats heading for Integrity

00:23:09Z Tough to find on the featureless water in the distance, so they helpfully popped smoke for us :)
00:23:11Z Uncropped view
00:26:25Z
00:28:51Z

00:29:01Z
00:39:06Z The red floats on Integrity are just barely discernable
00:39:27Z
00:40:08Z

00:40:27Z
00:40:31Z Looks like a raft right next to the capsule
00:47:41Z The recovery ship is now in the area
00:48:13Z