Former President Barack Obama has praised NASA's Artemis II crew for completing a historic deep-space mission, describing it as a powerful demonstration of courage and innovation. The mission ended with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after a nearly 10-day journey that included a lunar flyby and a record-setting deep-spirited distance of about 694,000 miles. The astronauts reached the farthest distance from Earth ever traveled by humans during a six-hour lunar flyover.