We went to the Mun. We came home. The job was to do both.
Valentina Kerman stepped onto the Mun's surface at 14:07 mission time, becoming the first kerbal to walk on another body. TRANQUIL - KOEING's L-SLS3+ carrying Commander Kerman, engineer Huddin Kerman, and scientist Katdorf Kerman - touched down in the Sea of Tranquility after a descent NASA described as textbook. The landing site was selected for terrain flatness and communications line-of-sight with LKO relay infrastructure.
Huddin Kerman, the engineer who was first to board LSI 1 and second to perform an EVA in program history, remained aboard the descent stage during surface operations. Katdorf Kerman conducted the surface science package - sample collection, regolith analysis, and a seismic charge deployment whose results are pending. The crew spent approximately four hours on the surface before ascending to Mun orbit and trans-Kerbin injection.
The mission was the culmination of the MunShot program: an uncrewed Mun orbital test in Era 4, the MARE crewed orbital flight earlier in Era 5, and now a landing. Zero crew lost. NASA Administrator Wernhardt Clane issued a statement that read, in full: "We went. We landed. We came home. That is the standard." The Herald notes that this is the shortest official statement in MSC history.
MERIDIAN - the second Mun landing, carrying Jedidiah Kerman, Dosos Kerman, and Wildock Kerman - followed within the same era. Both crews returned safely. The Mun is no longer a destination. It is a place kerbals have been twice.