The Artemis II astronauts are on track for a splashdown in the Pacific to close out humanity's first voyage to the moon in more than half a century. The tension in Houston's Mission Control is mounting as the miles melt away between the four returning astronauts and Earth. Their Orion capsule is expected to hit 32 times the speed of sound as it reenters the atmosphere Friday. It's a blistering blur not seen since NASA's Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. The recovery ship is already in position, awaiting the crew's arrival, along with military planes and helicopters.

Four astronauts are back on Earth after a space station mission that lasted almost eight months. A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast before dawn Friday. The three Americans and one Russian should have returned from the International Space Station two months ago, but were delayed by Boeing's Starliner crew capsule and weather. Shortly after splashdown, NASA said one of its astronauts had a medical issue. The space agency says the unidentified astronaut is in stable condition and remains at a Florida hospital as a "precautionary measure."