After nearly 10 days in space, the four-person Artemis II crew is preparing to return to Earth after flying around the moon, witnessing an eclipse and traveling farther from our planet than any humans since Apollo 1970. Their final objective: a safe reentry and splashdown in the Pacific.
Timeline and key actions
– Atmospheric entry is scheduled to begin at 7:53 p.m. ET just southeast of Hawaii. Orion is expected to hit the atmosphere at roughly 25,000 miles per hour and endure surface temperatures near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Mission pilot Victor Glover described reentry as “riding a fireball through the atmosphere.”
– Splashdown is expected about 13 minutes later, around 8:07 p.m. ET off the coast of San Diego.
– The crew will wake at 11:35 a.m. ET on return day to reconfigure the spacecraft; a final trajectory correction burn (TCM) is planned for 2:53 p.m. ET.
– Orion will separate from its service module at about 7:33 p.m. ET. The service module, which carries thrusters, solar panels and other systems, will fall back and burn up in the atmosphere while Orion begins its descent.
Reentry details and risks
Orion’s descent is brief and intense. The capsule must enter the atmosphere at a very specific angle — too shallow or too steep and the reentry could fail. Artemis II lead flight director Jeff Radigan summarized the challenge as “13 minutes of things that have to go right.” During the peak heating phase the crew will likely lose radio contact with Mission Control for roughly six minutes.
To reduce time in the hottest, most energetic parts of reentry, mission planners chose a steeper, faster entry profile for Artemis II rather than the skip-style entry used on Artemis I. Engineers also made design and operational changes after Artemis I identified char loss on the heat shield; the shield remains a primary focus for mission success and postflight inspection.
Recovery sequence
A multi-stage parachute system will deploy to slow Orion from reentry speeds to about 20 miles per hour at splashdown. The USS John P. Murtha is stationed near the splash zone to support recovery. A recovery team will reach the capsule, attach an inflatable raft to Orion’s side hatch, and a flight surgeon will perform an initial medical check before assisting the crew out of the capsule. The astronauts are then slated to return to Johnson Space Center in Houston.
What Artemis II proved and issues encountered
Artemis II accomplished important test objectives: it took humans farther from Earth than any crew since Apollo 13, validated Orion’s manual control systems needed for future lunar docking, confirmed life-support performance for four astronauts in a confined capsule, and allowed the crew to observe and photograph previously unseen perspectives of the lunar far side for scientific study.
Not every system worked perfectly. The mission carried the first toilet built for lunar missions, and teams experienced problems with the urine dump system; crew members used manual urinals multiple times. NASA reported the issue was with the dumping hardware rather than the toilet unit itself.
Postflight work
After recovery, Orion will be returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for detailed inspection. Engineers will closely examine the heat shield, plumbing and other hardware to assess performance and make any changes needed ahead of Artemis III, currently planned for next year.