What to expect as Artemis II comes home
The splashdown of the Orion capsule is planned to follow a detailed timeline throughout the afternoon and evening on Friday.
NASA indicates the scheduled splashdown time of 5:07pm PT (8:07pm ET; 1:07am Saturday BST) is approximate and will be refined as the capsule reaches key milestones during its descent.
Here is the current schedule for the day (all times Pacific):
- 10:50am: Crew completes cabin configuration preparation
- 11:53am: Final return trajectory correction burn
- 4:33pm: Orion separates from service module
- 4:37pm: Crew module raise burn to position spacecraft for reentry
- 4:53pm: Entry interface to Earth’s atmosphere at 400,000 feet
During reentry, Orion will endure temperatures up to 5,000°F (2,760°C) while traveling at 25,000 mph. A sequence of 11 parachutes will deploy at predetermined altitudes to decelerate the spacecraft to approximately 17 mph at splashdown.
Recovery operations could take up to two hours after splashdown to reach the capsule, open the hatch, and release the astronauts. NASA plans to transport the crew by helicopter to a military base in San Diego for medical evaluations before flying them back to Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
A post-landing press conference is scheduled approximately two and a half hours after splashdown.
will provide a livestream from about 6:30pm ET at the top of this blog.
While awaiting NASA’s live coverage of reentry beginning around 6:30pm ET, here are additional highlights from the mission presented in pictures:
Mission highlights
From its launch into a clear blue Florida sky, Artemis II has delivered a series of captivating moments, deep-space records, and unprecedented images from the far side of the moon.
Hundreds of thousands gathered along Florida’s space coast beaches and causeways, with millions more watching via television or online, as the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off at 6:35pm ET, marking humanity’s first journey to the moon in nearly 54 years.
“It foundational for what we do here at NASA to inspire,” Jared Isaacman, the space agency’s new administrator, said at the post-launch press conference.
“It should be a component of every one of our missions. We want to inspire and create interest in the next generation to grow up and contribute to this endeavor.”
After orbiting Earth to confirm the spacecraft, now named Integrity, was functioning properly, a translunar injection burn committed Artemis II to the 250,000-mile journey to the moon.
Artemis II entered the moon’s gravitational sphere of influence at 12:37am ET, becoming the first crewed spacecraft to do so since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
After setting a record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth and enduring a 40-minute communications blackout during which they ate maple cookies provided by Canadian crewmember Jeremy Hansen, the astronauts began a flyby of the lunar surface.
“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It’s just unbelievable,” Hansen said as Orion approached its closest point at 4,067 miles altitude.
The crew also observed an “absolutely stunning” lunar eclipse.
Aside from launch day, the riskiest phase of the mission, the crew donned reentry spacesuits and completed final mission closeout tasks, including configuring the capsule’s seats for their 25,000 mph descent to the Pacific Ocean.
Perspectives from the moon
All four Artemis II astronauts shared their reflections during the mission about their observations and emotions while passing 4,067 miles above the lunar surface on Monday.
Reid Wiseman, mission commander:
“We saw sights that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo, and that was amazing for us. The surprise of the day, we just came out of an eclipse where the sun, moon – the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching – we could see the corona of the sun, and then we could see the planet train line up, and Mars
And all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation, and this planet, become a two-planet species”
Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist:
“We have seen just some extraordinary things. Things I thought we might see looked similar to what I thought they might look like, and other things I just had never even imagined
The perspective I launched with was that we live on a fragile planet in the vacuum and the void of space. We’re very fortunate to live on planet Earth. Our purpose as humans is to find joy in lifting each other up by creating solutions together instead of destroying, and when you see it from out here it doesn’t change it, it just absolutely reaffirms that”
Christina Koch, mission specialist:
“I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon. It lasted just a second or two and I actually couldn’t even make it happen again, but something just threw me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real
The moon really is its own unique body in the universe. When we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of Earth, it just reminds us how much we have in common. Everything we need, Earth provides, and that, in and of itself, is somewhat of a miracle, and one that you can’t truly know until you’ve had the perspective of the other”
“It was very moving to look out the window. It was hard to speak looking through the zoom [lens], I went straight where Christina went and I was walking around down there on the surface, climbing and off-roading on that amazing terrain
Boy, I am loving the terminator [the dividing line between sunlight and darkness]. There’s just so much magic in the terminator, the islands of light, the valleys that look like black holes. You’d fall straight to the center of the moon if you stepped in some of those. It’s just so visually captivating”
Artemis II record breakers
The Artemis II crew traveled farther than any humans before them, reaching 252,756 miles, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in April 1970 by more than 4,000 miles.
“We do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration,” mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said from space.
“We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”
Additional records were set during the 10-day lunar flyby. Christina Koch became the only woman to have traveled to the moon and back. Hansen, representing the Canadian Space Agency, became the first non-American to do so. Victor Glover, the pilot, became the first person of color to complete the journey.
Prior to Artemis II, only 24 humans had made the journey and returned safely, all white American men during nine manned Apollo missions between December 1968 and December 1972.
On the eve of splashdown, the Artemis II crew spoke about inspiring future generations and “working on something big for the good of everyone.”
You can catch up on their comments here:
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the splashdown of the Artemis II crew off the coast of California following their remarkable 10-day mission orbiting the moon.
The Orion capsule carrying four astronauts—three Americans and one Canadian—on their 695,000-mile lunar journey is scheduled to land at 5:07pm PT (8:07pm ET, 1:07am Saturday BST).
I’m Richard Luscombe, and I will provide updates as events unfold, from Orion’s fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere to its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean and hatch opening, which will allow the crew their first breaths of fresh air since their launch from Florida on April 1.
