NASA Artemis II Crew Braces for Earth Reentry

As NASA's Artemis II mission nears its conclusion, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft are bracing for the most perilous phase of their 10-day lunar flyby: a fiery reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday, following a journey that set a new record for human distance from Earth at 252,756 miles.

The crew's return began with a service module separation about 20 minutes before reentry, followed by a final trajectory adjustment burn. Orion will then plummet from around 400,000 feet at speeds approaching 25,000 miles per hour, enduring temperatures up to 2,760 degrees Celsius as friction generates a plasma sheath around the capsule. For roughly six minutes, this superheated layer will sever communications with mission control, leaving the astronauts isolated in their pressure suits with visors lowered.

To decelerate, two drogue parachutes will deploy at 25,000 feet, slowing the craft to about 300 miles per hour, followed by...