Cleveland skyline lights up for Artemis II splashdown as moon crew returns to Earth
By Ryan Cohick
Published on April 9, 2026.
Downtown Cleveland will light up for the historic Artemis II mission, when the four-astronaut crew is scheduled to return to Earth after becoming the first humans in over 50 years to travel around the moon. The NASA Glenn Research Center, which played a significant role in the mission, will be lit blue and orange to mark the mission's planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. The tribute will be visible from approximately 4 a.m. to 7 a.M. Friday morning and again from 7 p.m., to midnight Friday night. The mission marked the first human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972 and also broke the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. If all goes as planned, the mission will end with a splashdown at about 8:07pm Friday off the San Diego coast.
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