NASA’s Artemis I mission touched down safely around 12:39pm ET on Sunday, marking a return to the Earth in the first of a series of missions to bring U.S. astronauts back to the surface of the moon, exactly 50 years after the Apollo 17 moon landing. The spacecraft’s journey began Nov. 16, when it was shipped off some 1.4 million miles through space on a mission to collect data while orbiting the moon, reaching speeds of 25,000 mph before landing off the coast of Baja California. The success of the mission raised hopes for Artemis II, the agency’s first plan to return a crew to the orbit of the moon in 50 years. As Artemis I blasted through Earth’s atmosphere, its heat shield warded off temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit—a key test as the agency takes its next steps a new era of space exploration. “This begins our path to a regular cadence of missions and a sustained human presence at the Moon for scientific discovery and to prepare for human missions to Mars,” said Jim Free, an associate administrator with NASA.