Welcome back, Artemis II’s crew!
Artemis II’s historic journey to the moon orbit and back is set to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean this Friday evening.
Splashdown is expected at around 8:07 p.m. ET at some 80 miles off the coast of San Diego.
This will crown the ten-day, 685,000-mile mission, the first crewed flight to the moon in 54 years.
The New York Post reported:
“Friday’s splashdown is unlikely to be as dazzling a sight here on Earth as the April 1 launch was — but the astronauts will have a show from within their capsule as they soar through the atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph on a tail of fire and the capsule heats to upward of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA said they’ll feel 3.9 Gs on the way back to terra firma — and hit a maximum velocity of 23,864 mph.
Parachutes will then deploy to slow the capsule, until it hits the water at around 17 mph, and the crew is snatched up by a waiting recovery ship.”
“A Navy transport dock ship, the USS John P. Murtha, will be in position with a crew of divers and helicopters to make sure Artemis II’s brave astronauts — Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and specialists Jeremy Hensen and Christina Koch — are recovered safely from the capsule.”
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