Artemis II splashes down
Artemis II astronauts returned safely after a lunar flyby, with Orion splashing down and NASA describing the mission as a successful step toward future crewed lunar operations. NASA is already preparing for Artemis III tasks such as practising dockings with a lunar lander in Earth orbit. ( )
A moon mission is a long oval loop: launch from Earth, swing around the Moon without landing, then hit the atmosphere at the right angle to come home. NASA’s Artemis II crew completed that loop on April 10, when Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after 9 days, 1 hour and 32 minutes. (nasa.gov) The four astronauts were Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, plus Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. NASA said Orion landed at 2:32 p.m. Pacific time off the California coast, ending the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years. (nasa.gov) Orion is NASA’s deep-space capsule, built to carry astronauts farther than the International Space Station, and Artemis II was its first crewed test flight. NASA launched the mission on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Space Launch System rocket. (nasa.gov) The spacecraft entered the Moon’s sphere of influence early on April 6, then passed behind the Moon and lost contact with Earth for about 40 minutes before reappearing. NASA’s mission updates said the crew completed its lunar observation period that night and began the trip home. (nasa.gov, nasa.gov) Re-entry is the hardest part of a return from the Moon because the capsule hits Earth’s atmosphere much faster than a spacecraft coming back from low Earth orbit. NASA used Artemis II to test Orion’s heat shield, navigation, communications and life-support systems with people aboard before assigning astronauts to more complex flights. (nasa.gov, nasa.gov) NASA and its partners are already shifting to Artemis III, but that mission plan has changed since earlier versions of the program. The New York Times and NBC New York reported that Artemis III is now expected to stay in Earth orbit so astronauts can practice docking Orion with a lunar lander instead of attempting a lunar landing on that flight. (nytimes.com, nbcnewyork.com) That revision reflects the state of the hardware, not just the crew schedule. NBC New York reported that the Artemis III crew has not yet been named, while NASA flight officials said after splashdown that preparations for docking practice in Earth orbit are already underway. (nbcnewyork.com, pbs.org) Artemis II also set distance marks for the crew. NASA called the mission record-setting, and news coverage described it as the farthest humans have traveled from Earth, surpassing the Apollo 13 distance mark from 1970. (nasa.gov, apnews.com) For now, the immediate result is simpler than the long-range plan: Orion brought four astronauts back from the Moon’s neighborhood, and every major phase worked well enough for NASA to move to the next test. After splashdown, the crew flew to Houston and reunited with their families. (nasa.gov, apnews.com)
