We came in peace for all mankind

65 years ago... US Navy Cdr NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard On February 21, NASA Robert Gilruth had chosen the three Mercury astronauts that would make the first flight, in alphabetical order implying that no final decision had been made: Glenn, Grissom and Shepard. LIFE magazine brought the story calling these three the Gold team, the other astronauts were called the Red team. On May , 1961 US Navy LtCdr Alan B. Shepard became the first NASA astronaut making a 15 minutes sub-orbital flight onboard Mercury-Redstone 3 "Freedom 7". Although no wrist watch was worn on the short sub-orbital flights, in September 1959 the Space Task Group for Project Mercury had already issued the first official NASA astronaut wrist watches for the "Mercury 7" astronauts; a bespoke 24 hours dial/movement LeCoultre pilot watch based on the LeCoultre Quartermaster. The military-inspired Quartermaster was produced in 1957 to celebrate 125 years of LeCoultre watches, 2500 were made. The Space Task Group for Project Mercury wanted a 24 hours movement wrist watch so the astronauts were in sink with the worldwide NASA MSFN Manned Space Flight Network of tracking stations & ships. For these 34mm LeCoutre watches, the astronauts had the choice between the "Lizard expansion" bracelet or the lightweight mesh bracelet. However, the watches were only used in training between September 1959 and October 1963. (Photo: LIFE magazine)

May 24-25, 1970. USSR. Leningrad. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, USSR pilot-cosmonaut, Major General of Aviation Georgy Timofeevich Beregovoy (left) and the first man to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969 during the lunar expedition of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, American astronaut Neil Armstrong (center) during a visit to the Yubileiny Sports Palace. The exact date of the photo is unknown. (probably 1970)

Neil Armstrong laying flowers at the grave of Yuri Gagarin in Moscow’s Red Square, 1970.

At 8:07PM EDT, the crew of Artemis II have successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego. Welcome back to Earth, Integrity!

The crew of Artemis II were greeted this morning with a message from the late Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, who flew aboard Apollo 8, the first mission to the Moon, and was the commander of Apollo 13, flying around the Moon in a free-return trajectory in a similar path to that followed by Artemis II. Though Lovell passed away last year, his spirit lives on in the heart of the Artemis program as we follow in his incredible footsteps.

And what if I said the Artemis II launch was making me emotional?

24/7 NASA livestreams of the mission can be viewed here.

Stick with us for more Artemis II content including live broadcasts for lunar flyby and splashdown, daily news conferences, and 24/7 streams providing views from the Orion spacecraft and from NASA Kennedy.

THEY DID IT!

WE'RE GOING TO THE FUCKING MOON TODAY HOLY FUCKING SHIT LETS FUCKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!

24 hours to go ☾

NASA ID: S79-29848

Astronauts Neil Armstrong & Mike Collins during geology training in Hawaii –January 1965

STS-41B Mission Specialist Ron McNair with the Cinema 360 camera | 📸 NASA ID: s84-26219

Star-forming region N159 in constellation Dorado, Hubble.