Reid Wiseman Shares New Footage From Inside Integrity As Artemis II Recovery Team Opened the Hatch

For most people who followed the Artemis II mission, the moment of splashdown was experienced from the outside - recovery boats, helicopters, the Orion capsule floating in the Pacific. Reid Wiseman just showed everyone what it looked like from the inside.

The Artemis II commander shared footage on X captured from within the Orion spacecraft - nicknamed Integrity by the crew - at the precise moment recovery forces opened the hatch following the mission's successful splashdown on April 10.

Footage from Inside Integrity

As the hatch swings open, the rescue crew appears in the frame - smiling, waving and cheering, visibly overjoyed to see the four astronauts safe inside. A helicopter passes over their shoulders in the background. The sound of joy, as Wiseman described it, fills the capsule.

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. pic.twitter.com/oQTe1niH6h

— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 8, 2026

"The view from inside Integrity as recovery forces pop open the hatch," Wiseman wrote in his caption. "Watching the helicopter pass over their shoulders and hearing all the joy, it was as good as it gets."

It is a perspective no one outside the crew has ever seen before - the first moment of connection between the Artemis II astronauts and the world they had left behind 10 days earlier, captured from the inside looking out.

Wiseman, along with pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, completed a historic 10-day journey around the Moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. The mission broke the all-time record for how far humans have traveled from Earth, witnessed a solar eclipse from behind the Moon and returned safely despite questions about the Orion heat shield's performance during reentry.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 11:42 PM.