I was excited for today…excited to cheer on the Agency and my friends as we named the Artemis III crew. What I didn’t expect was the feeling of complete, unbridled happiness in my soul as @Astro_Jeremy (from afar), @Astro_Christina, @AstroVicGlover and I ceremonially handed our baton to the next crew. We did it, and we did it well. @AstroKomrade, @astro_luca, Frank Rubio, @Astro_AndreD — you have the controls!! You will do it, and I know you will do it well. Godspeed, Artemis III

The view from inside Integrity as recovery forces pop open the hatch…watching the helicopter pass over their shoulders and hearing all the joy, it was as good as it gets.

Last week, we took the mission to the heart of New York City. The Artemis II crew showed the country what’s next. America is ready to go back to the Moon. Artemis II is just the beginning. 🌕

I meticulously color-balanced and incrementally saturated this photo of the back side of the moon until I could see how impacts "paint" the lunar surface with different minerals This is just a snippet of my collaboration with @astro_reid, who took this during a lunar flyby.

Single unedited raw photo vs processed stack, captured from behind the moon. The color is there, just so faint it takes dozens of photos to extract Lunar photography to the absolute extreme Just a hint of what I'm doing with the photos captured by @astro_reid during Artemis II

Been waiting for this moment. There is a lot in my head that I must process and very little has to do with leaving the planet. Today is my first step. I have never in my life felt peace like this.

Ten years have passed and that guy @astro_reid is still better than me. Damn ! 🤣

Only one chance in this lifetime… Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset. You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those exceptional Earthset photos through the 400mm lens. @AstroVicGlover was in window 3 watching with @Astro_Jeremy next to him. I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view…this is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. Enjoy.

First contact. 🛸👽

On April 10, U.S. Navy divers were the first on the scene as the Navy and NASA successfully recovered the Orion spacecraft and its crew in the Pacific Ocean, bringing four astronauts safely back to Earth after their journey beyond the Moon.

I sorta had a tiny little hunch this crew would gel brilliant during the mission when @Astro_Christina started mocking my weekly updates during training. This one from @NASAKennedy back in December 😂

Jesse, Steve, Laddy, and Vlad….such an incredible feeling to welcome you aboard Integrity after a nearly 700,000 mile journey. Forever thankful for your service to our crew and the nation.

Mission complete ❤️❤️❤️

PS- it’s hard not to love this little guy. I cant let Rise out of my sight…currently tethered to my water bottle.

On the helicopter leaving the ship right now. This planet is impossibly beautiful from every altitude I’ve seen it…surface to 250,000 miles

LIVE: They are coming home. Watch as the Artemis II crew returns to Earth, splashing down at around 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11). x.com/i/broadcasts/1pKdRbMAL…

Distance makes the heart grow fonder…it didn’t take 219,669 miles to remind me how much love I have for Ellie and Katey. They have been incredible supporters during this journey, and they now fully understand why it was important for me to go explore into the unknown.

Out here playing with Earth-Moon gravity like it is a toy and seeing things that are beautiful beyond comprehension.

LIVE: Artemis II astronauts answer media questions as they continue their journey toward Earth following their record-breaking lunar flyby. x.com/i/broadcasts/1rGmqolpj…

Coming up next, our @NASAArtemis astronauts and @NASAAdmin answer questions from social media. Stay tuned: x.com/i/broadcasts/1dGYljDRv…

LIVE: Watch with us as the Artemis II astronauts make their closest approach to the Moon, traveling farther from Earth than ever before. x.com/i/broadcasts/1dGYljDRv…