CAPE CANAVERAL: As NASA's Orion capsule returned from the moon Sunday, it parachuted into the Pacific off Mexico, concluding a test flight that should prepare astronauts for the next lunar flyby.

NASA's Orion capsule parachuted into the Pacific off the coast of Mexico on Sunday, completing a test flight that should pave the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby.

The incoming capsule hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 32 times the speed of sound, and endured reentry temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) before splashing down west of Baja California near Guadalupe Island. A Navy ship quickly moved in to recover the spacecraft and its silent occupants — three test dummies rigged with vibration sensors and radiation monitors.

NASA praised the descent and splashdown as "near-perfect," and congratulations poured in from Washington.

"I'm overwhelmed," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said from Mission Control in Houston. “This is an extraordinary day ... It's historic because we're sending a new generation into deep space."

The space agency needed a successful splashdown to stay on track for the next Orion flight around the moon, which is scheduled for 2024 and will feature four astronauts, the identities of whom will be revealed early next year. This would be followed by a two-person lunar landing as soon as 2025 and, eventually, a permanent moon base. The long-term goal is to launch a Mars mission by the late 2030s.

The last time astronauts landed on the moon was 50 years ago. After landing on December 11, 1972, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley, the longest stay of the Apollo era. They were the 12th and final moonwalkers.

Orion was the first capsule to visit the moon since then, launching on NASA’s new mega moon rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16.No one was on the $4 billion test flight, but managers are thrilled to pull off a dress rehearsal for the real thing.

On Sunday, NASA held an Apollo-style splashdown party at Houston's Johnson Space Center, with employees and their families gathered to watch the broadcast of Orion's homecoming. The visitor center next door hosted a public party.

NASA's primary goal was to return Orion in one piece after the 25-day flight. With a return speed of 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 kilometres per hour), the capsule used a new, advanced heat shield never before tested in spaceflight. It dipped into the atmosphere and briefly skipped out to reduce gravity, or G loads, as well as to help pinpoint the splashdown area.

All of this happened in spectacular fashion, according to officials, allowing Orion's safe return.

“I don’t think any one of us could have imagined a mission this successful,” said mission manager Mike Sarafin.

Further inspections will be conducted once Orion is back at Kennedy by month’s end. If the capsule checks find nothing amiss, NASA will announce the first lunar crew amid considerable hoopla in early 2023, picking from among the 42 active U.S. astronauts stationed at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.

“People are anxious, we know that,” Vanessa Wyche, Johnson’s director, told reporters. Added Nelson: “The American people, just like (with) the original seven astronauts in the Mercury days, are going to want to know about these astronauts.”

The capsule splashed down more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) south of the original target zone. Forecasts calling for choppy seas and high wind off the Southern California coast prompted NASA to switch the location.

Orion logged 1.4 million miles (2.25 million kilometers) as it zoomed to the moon and then entered a wide, swooping orbit for nearly a week before heading home.

It came within 80 miles (130 kilometers) of the moon twice. At its farthest, the capsule was more than 268,000 miles (430,000 kilometers) from Earth.

Orion beamed back stunning photos of not only the gray, pitted moon, but also the home planet. As a parting shot, the capsule revealed a crescent Earth—Earthrise—that left the mission team speechless.

Nottingham Trent University astronomer Daniel Brown said the flight’s many accomplishments illustrate NASA’s capability to put astronauts on the next Artemis moonshot.

“This was the nail-biting end of an amazing and important journey for NASA’s Orion spacecraft,” Brown said in a statement from England.

The moon has never been hotter. A spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral just hours earlier. The lunar lander is owned by ispace, a Tokyo-based company that wants to establish an economy on the moon. Meanwhile, two American companies are planning to launch lunar landers early next year.