Artemis II Heads Home: NASA Green-Lights Critical Return Burn for Safe Earth Reentry
NASA has given the go-ahead for Artemis II’s return trajectory correction burn, putting the Orion spacecraft and its four astronauts on track for a successful splashdown later today. This marks a key step in the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo, testing systems for future deep-space flights.
The crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen—completed the short thruster firing on schedule. Orion will now follow a precise path back from its lunar flyby.
Reentry will push the spacecraft to nearly 25,000 mph. The heat shield must handle temperatures up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during a communications blackout lasting several minutes. Once slowed, parachutes will deploy, bringing the capsule down to about 19 mph for a controlled splashdown in the Pacific off California’s coast.
Recovery teams stand ready to assist the astronauts upon landing. This mission delivers real progress in America’s return to the Moon and beyond—solid engineering delivering results. Godspeed to the crew for a safe return.