Artemis II astronauts safely back home on Earth after spacecraft splashes down off California coast

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‘A crazy 20 minutes’: What it's like coming back home from space

All four astronauts have made the short walk to the medical bay unaided, waving off the wheelchairs made available to them. They'll now undergo medical testing on the ship. NASA has said the crew will be flown off the ship to the mainland roughly sometime between 8 a.m. And 8 p.m. ET tomorrow.

The helicopters have landed on the ship and the astronauts are sitting on the edge of the open door, chatting and laughing with a few of the recovery personnel on the flight deck. Koch and Glover smile, clap and pump their fists at the cameras.

Isaacman is on the flight deck greeting the crew (with hugs). 

NASA's associate administrator Amit Kshatriya, standing in a place "overrun with jubilant folks" in Houston, remarked on how successful this mission was because of the hard work of the teams. 

"My thought is always about these teams," Kshatriya said on NASA's live broadcast, pulling it all the way back and thanking the teams that "made the heat shield tiles that held together tonight, that stacked the vehicle in Florida, that integrated the vehicle in Denver." 

"They did it right." 

Khastriya added that he thinks this mission is a "gift to the world from NASA," saying that it should serve as an inspiration to young people about overcoming hard problems together.

The astronauts are now being hoisted into U.S. Navy helicopters one by one, which means the crew is being separated from one another for the first time since launch. (They sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the front porch.)

Prime Minister Mark Carney has tweeted his congratulations to the Artemis II crew.

"The Artemis II crew has returned to Earth. 

"Congratulations to Colonel Hansen and the team on an historic feat. Welcome home."

About 90 minutes after Orion hit the water, the crew has left the capsule and stepped into the spring sunshine. Koch came out first in her bright orange spacesuit, followed by Glover, Hansen and Wiseman.

"We know whatever he does, he will carry the torch for Canada, always."

The side hatch of the crew capsule is now open, so the crew is breathing fresh sea air for the first time since Artemis II launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 1. Recovery teams are going to help them out so they can be hoisted one-by-one into helicopters that will fly them back to the USS John P. Murtha for medical exams.

NASA has also now provided an official splashdown time of 8:07:27 p.m. ET.

The entire elapsed mission time was nine days, one hour, 32 minutes and 15 seconds, according to NASA.

That's quite a bit of time with no gravity.

It's not like the six months or more that astronauts on the International Space Station experience, but it's enough to leave an impression.

Wiseman, Glover and Koch have all been in space before. But for Hansen, this was his first time in zero gravity. It may take him a few days to find his Earth legs.

To go through such a ride, you better believe that the astronauts need a bit of help with the queasiness that comes with such incredible speed and stopping. They take anti-nausea medication for that. 

In the end, when he landed in 2013, he still threw up. 

"I felt much better afterward."

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