The Artemis I mission — a 25½-day un-crewed test flight around the moon meant to pave the way for future astronaut missions — came to a momentous end as NASA’s Orion spacecraft made a successful ocean splashdown today.

The spacecraft finished the final stretch of its journey, closing in on the thick inner layer of Earth’s atmosphere after traversing 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) between the moon and Earth.

It splashed down at 12:40 p.m. ET Sunday in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California.This final step was among the most important and dangerous legs of the mission.