Upstate New York Has Surprising Tie To Historic Space Mission

The historic NASA mission has a surprising connection to Upstate New York.

The crew of the Artemis Two lunar mission is on their way home. .

Historic Space Mission Ending

The Orion spacecraft carrying Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Cook, and Jeremy Hansen is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean tonight off the coast of California

Plans are for the USS John P. Murtha to recover the crew at about 5:07 pm Pacific Time near San Diego. NASA says the spacecraft will reach a top speed of nearly 24-thousand miles-per-hour as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, and will be slowed down by parachutes.

Shortly after hitting the water, five bright airbags will deploy to keep the capsule upright while the astronauts are collected. The Orion spacecraft will then be hoisted onto a recovery ship.

Upstate New York Ties To Historic NASA Mission

One of the Artemis 2 astronauts has ties to Upstate New York. After spending several days in space, RPI graduate and astronaut Reid Wiseman is returning to Earth today.

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The 27-year-old Navy veteran attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the late 1990s. He graduated from the Troy, New York, college in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Systems Engineering.

How Upstate New York College Shaped Historic NASA Mission

He credits his time at the Upstate New York campus as a foundational part of his career.

He says the college taught him "failure resistance" and prepared him to "go out and change the world.

Wiseman said he chose RPI to deepen his skills in math and engineering, seeing it as a natural extension of his childhood fascination with aviation.

Led Crew To The Farthest Distance From Earth Ever

Wiseman is the commander of the Artemis II mission. On April 6, 2026, he led his crew to the farthest distance from Earth humans have ever traveled, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13.

President Trump called Wiseman and his crew "modern-day pioneers," telling the crew during a phone call this week they "made history and made all of America really proud."

The mission launched on April 1st from Cape Canaveral and served as a test flight for NASA, which is looking into sending astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.

A live stream of the Artemis Two return is available on the NASA app or its YouTube channel.

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