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PHOTOS: Artemis II returns to Earth with a Pacific Ocean splashdown

Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing records near the moon with grace and joy.

It was a dramatic grand finale to a 10-day mission that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.

The triumphant moon-farers — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen — emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego.

America 250: How petroleum became the backbone of modern materials

By Nick Iannelli
Long before plastic became something we use every day in our lives, petroleum was valued primarily because it could be used for fuel. But over time, a quiet transformation began to take shape inside labs and industrial plants across the United States.
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