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Key Takeaways
The Artemis II crew was greeted by an inflatable green alien waving from a Navy ship window upon returning to Earth
The playful moment was orchestrated by Navy crew members to add humor to the high-stakes recovery operation
Social media users quickly embraced the quirky detail, sharing photos and praising the lighthearted gesture
When the crew from the Artemis II mission splashed down off the coast of San Diego on Friday, April 10, their return was already set to be a milestone moment.
But it was an unexpected — and slightly out-of-this-world — detail that quickly captured attention online.
As recovery efforts got underway, viewers noticed something unusual in the window of the USS John P. Murtha: an inflatable green alien peeking out and appearing to wave along with the crew.
In footage of the moment, astronauts — including pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch — can be seen waving as the inflatable figure looks on from the window, adding a playful touch to the otherwise high-stakes return.
The quirky sight was quickly spotted and shared across social media, where it soon went viral.
“The Artemis II crew returned home to Earth and were greeted by some familiar faces! 👽,” one Instagram account, @whistlesports, captioned a roundup of memes of the alien captured in the window.
“This is awesome 😆,” one user replied on the post.
“That’s so funny! 👽,” another commented.
Inflatable green alien captured in window
Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty
Speaking to Good Morning America, Mike Gallagher, the main propulsion division officer in the U.S. Navy, shared how the lighthearted moment came together.
“Before the astronauts had landed we had been jumping and waving at some of our ship mates on board the flight deck so the HM’s and the flight crew,” he said.
“We saw the alien in the room with us and realized that would be a really cool thing to do, have it waving at everybody out there who was working on the mission.”
Artemis II crew on April 1 before takeoff
Credit: Pat Benic/UPI/Shutterstock
Along with Glover and Koch, commander Reid Wiseman and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen also safely returned, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean just after 5:07 p.m. local time.
The spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere from an altitude of about 400,000 feet around 4:53 p.m., followed by an expected six-minute communications blackout caused by a buildup of plasma around the Orion capsule.
During that period, the capsule reached speeds of approximately 24,661 mph — more than 30 times the speed of sound — while enduring peak heating temperatures of around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its exterior.
While the mission did not land on the moon, it marked a critical test flight as part of NASA’s broader goal of returning humans to the lunar surface within the next two years.
Read the original article on People