WATCH: Artemis II astronauts splash down after historic mission around the Moon

The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have splashed down after their historic ten-day mission around the Moon.

The four astronauts received a heroes' welcome when they were finally transported to Houston, Texas, after the successful completion of their journey into deep space.

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Their Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

After splashdown, the astronauts were met by a combined NASA and U.S. military team that assisted them out of the spacecraft in open water and transported them via helicopter to a waiting transport dock ship for initial medical checks.

“We are bonded forever”, mission commander Reid Wiseman was quoted as saying.

Mission specialist Christina Koch gave an emotive description of what they experienced in deep space: “Honestly, what struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe.”

Their lunar flyby took them over 400,000 kilometres from Earth - farther into space than any humans have ever traveled before, surpassing the previous distance record set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.

The astronauts reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun.

NASA says the mission - its first crewed lunar flyby in over 50 years, is a key step toward a long‑term return to the Moon and future crewed missions to Mars.