The Artemis II team touching down in the Pacific Ocean using parachutes.

Astronauts aboard Artemis II have safely returned to Earth after a 10-day mission that took humans farther into space than ever before and revived momentum for deep space exploration.

The crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 00:07 GMT, concluding what officials described as a “textbook touchdown” following a carefully choreographed re-entry and descent sequence.

Commander Reid Wiseman confirmed shortly after landing that all four astronauts were “healthy,” while officials from NASA told a press conference the crew were “happy and in good condition” after the demanding mission.

“This is the start of a new era of human space exploration,” NASA said, stressing the mission’s role as a precursor to future crewed lunar landings and deeper journeys into the solar system.

A defining milestone came on April 6 when the Orion spacecraft carried the astronauts 406,771 kilometres from Earth during a lunar fly-by. The distance broke the record for the furthest humans have travelled into space.

The return journey involved precise and high-risk manoeuvres. At 23:33 GMT, the Orion capsule separated from its service module before beginning high-speed re-entry at more than 35 times the speed of sound.

Communications were lost for six minutes as plasma built up around the spacecraft. Contact was restored as the capsule descended further into the atmosphere.

Parachutes were deployed in stages, slowing the capsule to under 200 feet per second before splashdown off the coast of San Diego within a mile of its target.

Recovery teams moved quickly. By 00:34 GMT, the astronauts exited the capsule and were transferred to a recovery boat, then airlifted to a US Navy ship for medical checks.

Rescue squad helping the Artemis II team after touching down in the Pacific Ocean.

The crew included Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen alongside Wiseman.

“We have you loud and clear,” mission commander Wiseman said after landing. “What a journey. We are stable.”

The mission also faced a wave of misinformation online. False claims circulated across platforms, including 𝕏, TikTok and Facebook, ranging from allegations that the lunar fly-by was staged to claims that the footage was artificially generated.

An image viewed more than a million times on 𝕏 appeared to show the crew floating before a green screen, but a digital forensics expert told fact-checkers from Agence France-Presse the image showed signs of AI manipulation.

Another widely shared video suggesting the flight was staged was traced to a failed text overlay by a news station using the official feed.

Despite the false claims, the mission’s success is seen as a major step towards returning humans to the Moon, building a sustainable lunar presence and preparing for future missions to Mars.

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Left – Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Policy Communication, Daniels Bwala Right – Al Jazeera’s Journalist, Mehdi Hassan

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, recently underwent throat surgery a few days after his controversial interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera.

It was reports that Bwala made this known during an appearance on News Central’s programme, 60 Minutes with Mr Kay, while addressing reactions to the interview and criticism from netizens online.

Recall that Bwala’s interview with Hasan sparked immediate backlash online, with many netizens and opposition politicians describing the outing as an embarrassment.

Responding to the criticism, Bwala said, “Eight days after the interview with Mehdi Hasan, I underwent surgery on my throat. I don’t know whether it is the ‘Obidient’ people that threw that African thing, but in any case, I’m back and strong.

“I know the environment I come from; it’s an environment where there exists a species of ‘Trojans’ of social media called the ‘Obidient,’ who do not care about the national interest or the security of Nigeria and will do everything possible to achieve the aim of their hero, no matter the cost.”

Bwala further defended his performance during the interview, describing Hasan’s approach as opposition-style journalism.

According to the presidential aide, Hasan’s questions were focused on his past criticisms of Tinubu’s administration while he was in the opposition.

Bwala added that he repeatedly cautioned Hasan against persisting in the same line of questioning because it was not the purpose of the interview.

He stressed, “What Mehdi Hasan did was what we call opposition-style journalism, where you play the role of the opposition. In that interview, Mehdi sought to elicit information from me to discredit the government, but he could not.

“In the first 15 minutes, he started by asking me to answer questions relating to things I said about President Tinubu when I was in the opposition.

“Repeatedly, I admitted to them I even said I had said more than what he mentioned, but I asked that we move on to the purpose of the interview.”

“He continued doing it, and at a point, I warned him that if he kept going in that direction, I would deny it. He continued, and that was why I kept denying.”

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Fresh details have emerged on the circumstances surrounding the murder of the Commander of the 29 Task Force Brigade, Brigadier General Oseni Braimah.

The late general was killed during a deadly midnight assault on a military base in Benisheikh, Borno State.

The attack, which occurred around 12.30am on Thursday, was carried out by suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province fighters, who launched simultaneous assaults on multiple military positions in Benisheikh, a strategic town in Kaga Local Government Area along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway.

While the Nigerian Army insisted that the attack was successfully repelled and dismissed claims of heavy casualties and equipment failure, accounts from soldiers and residents painted the picture of a coordinated insurgent offensive that overwhelmed troops, leaving significant destruction in its wake.

Multiple witnesses who spoke to Punch stated that the bandits attacked in large numbers, attacking at least three military formations before pushing into civilian areas.

A soldier who survived the attack but requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, described the scale and coordination as unprecedented.

“We are used to coordinated attacks, but this was different. They came in large numbers from different directions at the same time. It felt like they had studied our positions for weeks,” he said.

Another survivor admitted that the attackers had a numerical advantage, which affected the outcome of the engagement.

“We stood our ground at first, but they were too many. They attacked from different angles. It was like an ambush,” he said.

According to him, the troops’ morale began to drop as rumours spread that other locations had fallen and some soldiers had been killed.

“When we started hearing that our colleagues in other locations had been overrun, it shook us. Then someone shouted that the Brigade Commander was dead. That was when fear fully set in,” he added.

The confusion and psychological impact of the attack, sources said, contributed to a breakdown in coordination among troops, forcing some to retreat towards the town.

The aforementioned publication gathered that the gun battle lasted over one hour and 30 minutes, with multiple explosions forcing both military personnel and civilians to flee for safety.

In the aftermath of the attack, claims emerged that Brigadier General Braimah was killed due to a malfunctioning Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

However, military sources and individuals familiar with the late general disputed this.

A highly placed source within the brigade described the claim as misleading.

“The insurgents actually set the MRAP on fire during the attack. Saying he died because the vehicle didn’t start is not accurate. The situation was far more complex,” the source said.

Another insider suggested that only those who were with the general at the exact moment of the attack could provide a definitive account, noting that many of them also died in the encounter.

“I am aware that the insurgents closed in from various angles at the same time. It was like an ambush plan. But when the gun battle became intense, the terrorist formation scattered. What helped them was their numbers; there were too many of them,” the source added.

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