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Artemis II Astronauts Return to Earth, Splash Down in Pacific Ocean

Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.

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We have splashdown! After making history by traveling the farthest distance into space that's ever been traveled by humans (reaching 248,655 miles from Earth on April 6th, breaking the record previously set by Apollo 13 in 1970), NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen returned home on Friday evening in a moment that was viewed by millions around the world.

Artemis II
Image: NASA; NASA Screencaps

NASA has its official livestream running (which you can check out above), and here are some of the highlights from re-entry and splashdown:

 

Artemis II Return: NASA Offers Official Timeline for Re-Entry

As Artemis II nears its return to Earth, NASA teams on the ground are completing final preparations for Orion's re-entry and splashdown around 8:07 p.m. (5:07 p.m. PDT) Friday, April 10, off the coast of San Diego.

Artemis II Astronauts Return to Earth, Splash Down in Pacific Ocean
Image: NASA

The agency will continue to provide updates about the test flight during the daily mission briefing. Today's mission status briefing is at 3:30 p.m. and will stream on NASA's 24/7 coverage on the agency's YouTube channel.

Artemis II Astronauts Return to Earth, Splash Down in Pacific Ocean
Image: NASA

During re-entry, the service module will separate around 7:33 p.m., about 20 minutes before Orion reaches the upper atmosphere southeast of Hawaii. At 7:37 p.m., a final trajectory‑adjustment burn will fine‑tune the flight path before the spacecraft begins a series of roll maneuvers to safely distance itself from departing hardware. Orion will reach its maximum velocity — approximately 23,864 mph — just before entry interface.

Artemis II
Image: NASA

As Orion descends through about 400,000 feet, the spacecraft will enter a planned six‑minute communications blackout at 7:53 p.m. as plasma forms around the capsule during peak heating. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in a nominal landing profile.

After emerging from blackout, Orion will jettison its forward bay cover, deploy its drogue parachutes near 22,000 feet at 8:03 p.m., and then unfurl its three main parachutes around 6,000 feet at 8:04 p.m. to slow the capsule for splashdown off the coast of San Diego.

Artemis II
Image: NASA

Within two hours after splashdown, the crew will be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS John P. Murtha. Recovery teams will retrieve the crew using helicopters, and once aboard the ship, the astronauts will undergo post‑mission medical evaluations before returning to shore to board an aircraft bound for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Artemis II
Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen are scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT) on Friday, April 10.
NASA/Bill Ingalls

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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