India, April 10 -- NASA's Artemis II mission is entering its final phase, with the crew on their return journey to Earth following a historic lunar flyby that set a new distance record for human spaceflight.

In a post on X, NASA said the astronauts have crossed the midpoint between the Moon and Earth.

"They're halfway home," the agency said, adding that the crew "will splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 8:07 pm ET on Friday, April 10 (0007 UTC on Saturday, April 11), off the coast of San Diego."

The Orion spacecraft is expected to land off the California coast, where recovery operations are planned.

The US Navy's USS John P. Murtha is set to retrieve both the astronauts and the spacecraft after splashdown, according to US Indo-Pac...