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HOUSTON — The most dangerous part of the Artemis II astronauts’ mission will happen when the Orion spacecraft returns to Earth and splashes down into the Pacific Ocean on Friday.
NASA is working around the clock to bring the four astronauts back home, and on Thursday, Mission Control told 13 that they’re feeling good about Friday’s splashdown.
When and where will Artemis II splashdown?
According to NASA’s official webpage, Artemis II nears its return home, and Orion’s re-entry and splashdown will happen around 7:07 p.m. CDT (8:07 p.m. EDT, 5:07 p.m. PDT) on Friday, April 10, off the coast of San Diego.
During re-entry, the service module will separate around 6:33 p.m. CDT, which is about 20 minutes before Orion reaches the upper atmosphere of the Earth. A few minutes later, a burn meant to fine-tune the flight path to its designated landing zone will be executed as Orion begins a series of roll maneuvers.
NASA says Orion and its crew will reach its maximum velocity just before entry interface: approximately 23,864 miles per hour.
The first parachutes to slow the spacecraft will be deployed at about 22,000 feet at 7:03 p.m. CDT, followed by more at about 6,000 feet.
The crew is expected to be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS John P. Murtha within two hours of landing, where they will undergo post-mission medical evaluations.
How will the Artemis II crew re-enter Earth?
While America’s 250th anniversary is three months away, NASA is planning to start the fireworks early with pyrotechnics that will help slow the Orion spacecraft before splashdown.
“Basically, we pack a shoot into a bag, stuff it into a cannon, plug some pyrotechnics into the back of it and blast them out into the airstream,” Jared Daum, Artemis II parachute system manager, said.
Eyewitness News got a close look at the technology on board the Orion spacecraft that will help get the astronauts back home to Earth.
Daum said there are four series of parachutes that go off with a bang. They’re essential to slowing the spacecraft, which is expected to go from 400,000 feet to the Pacific Ocean in just 13 minutes at speeds up to 35,000 feet per second.
What happens when the astronauts are back home?
The team at Mission Control in Houston is making sure everything goes according to plan when the Artemis II crew returns to our planet.
Teams at the Johnson Space Center were tasked with developing tools to test astronauts’ balance shortly after they return to Earth.
Jason Norcross, an extra-vehicular activities and environmental physiology laboratory senior scientist, said that while the mission lasted only a week and a half, it could take days for the astronauts to overcome some disorientation.
“You’ll often see the astronauts as they move, they’ll tend to keep their head and body kind of robotically together. That’s a way to prevent motion sickness,” Norscross said.
What’s next for NASA?
When the Artemis II crew is back on solid ground again, they will board an aircraft bound for Houston’s Johnson Space Center to put the finishing touches on the Artemis II mission.
After the splashdown years in the making, NASA officials hope that Artemis II is the mission that gets humans one step closer to landing on the moon again.
“It’s a big deal. I’m super excited,” Daum expressed.
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