FILE – NASA astronauts (left to right) Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel)
NASA’s historic Artemis II mission that sent NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day trip to the moon will end Friday when the Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego around 8:07 p.m. EDT.
Artemis II surpassed the Apollo 13’s flight distance to the moon, setting a new record. They also became the first humans to set eyes on the lunar surface from 4,000 miles above it – and the first humans to travel on the far side of the moon during the 7-hour flyby.
Here’s everything you need to know about when Artemis II, its crew, and the Orion spacecraft are expected to land back on Earth.
When is the Artemis II splashdown? Here’s the timeline
Artemis II splashdown: Where will crew land, how does that happen?
During a press briefing on April 8, NASA discussed the splashdown of the Artemis II. The crew is expected to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California, on Friday night, April 10. NASA explains how the Orion spacecraft will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and a step-by-step guide of what happens during splashdown.
- 7:33 p.m.: Orion’s crew module will separate from the service module, exposing its heat shield for the spacecraft’s return through Earth’s atmosphere, where it will encounter temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 7:37 p.m.: Following separation, Orion will perform an 18-second crew module raise burn, beginning to set the proper entry angle and align the heat shield for atmospheric interface.
- 7:53 p.m.: When Orion reaches 400,000 feet above Earth’s surface while traveling nearly 35 times the speed of sound. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in the planned entry profile. This moment marks the spacecraft’s first contact with the upper atmosphere and the start of a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma builds around the capsule.
- 8:03 p.m.: Around 22,000 feet in altitude, the drogue parachutes will deploy, slowing and stabilizing the capsule as Orion nears splashdown.
- 8:04 p.m.: At around 6,000 feet, the drogues will release, and the three main parachutes will deploy, reducing Orion’s speed to less than 136 mph.
- 8:07 p.m.: Slowing to 20 mph, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, completing the Artemis II crew’s return to Earth and a 694,481-mile journey.
- From there, teams from NASA and the U.S. military will extract the crew from Orion and fly them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha.
- Within two hours after splashdown, the crew will be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS Murtha. Recovery teams will retrieve the crew, assist them onto an inflatable raft, and then use helicopters to deliver them to the ship. Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post‑mission medical evaluations before returning to shore where the awaiting aircraft will take them to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Artemis II splashdown: Watch live
Artemis II is expected to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California, around 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time.
Artemis II: Track the mission’s return to Earth
NASA has created the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW), where people can track the Orion spacecraft in real time. Click here to see where the spacecraft and the Artemis II astronauts are.
The Source: This article was written with information from NASA.
