Artemis II Crew Prepares for Historic Friday Earth Return After First Crewed Lunar Orbit Voyage in 50+ Years
Four astronauts from the United States and Canada on NASA’s groundbreaking Artemis II mission are on track to splash down back on Earth this Friday, wrapping up their trailblazing journey to the far side of the Moon.
The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—has spent 10 days aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft completing the test mission. Re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere is scheduled to begin at 7:33 p.m. ET, with a targeted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California at 8:07 p.m. ET. NASA will stream the entire landing process live for the public to follow.
A Historic Milestone for Human Spaceflight
Artemis II marks the first time humans have traveled to lunar orbit in more than 50 years. The mission has already broken a new record: the crew traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history, reaching an estimated 252,760 miles from our home planet. To put that distance in context, that equals roughly 100 round trips between New York City and Los Angeles—all accommodated in the Orion capsule’s 330 cubic feet of habitable living space, about the size of two full-size minivans.
The core goal of the Artemis II mission is to collect critical performance data to help NASA prepare for future crewed lunar landings and deep space exploration. Throughout the 10-day voyage, the crew ran a full suite of planned tests to evaluate how Orion operates with a crew on board in deep space. These tests included verifying communication links with ground teams on Earth, adjusting the capsule’s flight trajectory, and now completing the final test of safe re-entry and splashdown.
Splashdown is widely considered one of the most high-risk phases of the entire mission, following an unexpected issue during the 2022 uncrewed Artemis I test flight. On that earlier mission, Orion’s protective heat shield suffered unplanned damage during return to Earth. The heat shield is constructed from AVCOAT, a specialized material designed to slowly dissipate extreme heat as the capsule enters Earth’s atmosphere, protecting the crew from temperatures approaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the design intent, the 2022 heat shield returned with unexpected charring and cracking across multiple sections.
NASA confirmed that even if a crew had been aboard Artemis I, they would have returned safely, and the agency has completed extensive analysis to identify and address the root cause of the 2022 damage. Even so, the heat shield’s performance remains a top priority for space teams and fans around the world waiting to welcome the crew home.
Unforgettable Moments From the Lunar Voyage
The crew launched on April 1, and encountered a handful of minor, relatable glitches in their early days in space, including small issues with Microsoft Office tools and the capsule’s toilet. These small inconveniences were quickly overshadowed by the unprecedented imagery and data the crew sent back from their lunar flyby of the Moon’s far side, with new photos already available to the public.
The astronauts also named newly identified lunar craters during the mission, including one named in honor of commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 46.
The crew also experienced a one-of-a-kind astronomical event no astronaut has ever witnessed: a total solar eclipse viewed from a vantage point just a few thousand miles from the Moon. “It wasn’t just an eclipse with the Sun hidden behind the Moon,” mission specialist Christina Koch explained. “We could also see earthshine, the Sun’s light reflecting off Earth, wrapping the Moon in a soft, borrowed glow.”
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The full live broadcast of the crew’s landing is available to stream here.
Artemis II Crew Prepares for Historic Friday Earth Return After First Crewed Lunar Orbit Voyage in 50+ Years
