WATCH LIVE: Orion Spaceship To Splash Down in the Pacific Ocean at 8:07 PM ET – Return to Earth Concludes the Historic Artemis II Lunar Mission
Welcome back, Artemis II’s crew!
Artemis II’s historic journey to the moon orbit and back is set to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean this Friday evening.
Splashdown is expected at around 8:07 p.m. ET at some 80 miles off the coast of San Diego.
This will crown the ten-day, 685,000-mile mission, the first crewed flight to the moon in 54 years.
Fist bump!
The Artemis II crew is now under 35,000 miles from Earth. The astronauts are preparing the spacecraft for reentry and the weather is looking good for splashdown. pic.twitter.com/jYNlo0xoNu
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2026
The New York Post reported:
“Friday’s splashdown is unlikely to be as dazzling a sight here on Earth as the April 1 launch was — but the astronauts will have a show from within their capsule as they soar through the atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph on a tail of fire and the capsule heats to upward of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA said they’ll feel 3.9 Gs on the way back to terra firma — and hit a maximum velocity of 23,864 mph.
Parachutes will then deploy to slow the capsule, until it hits the water at around 17 mph, and the crew is snatched up by a waiting recovery ship.”
Behind the four astronauts of Artemis II are hundreds of people tracking their every move: monitoring spacecraft systems, evaluating crew safety, and staying in constant communication. Let’s hear it for the team in Mission Control responsible for getting the astronauts around the… pic.twitter.com/ro7G8xy4fa
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2026
Homeward bound
Today’s the day our Artemis II astronauts splash down on Earth after their journey around the Moon. Here are ways to watch, starting at 6:30pm ET (2230 UTC): https://t.co/fAg0bGAqEc pic.twitter.com/stTC8XKY7B
— NASA (@NASA) April 10, 2026
“A Navy transport dock ship, the USS John P. Murtha, will be in position with a crew of divers and helicopters to make sure Artemis II’s brave astronauts — Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and specialists Jeremy Hensen and Christina Koch — are recovered safely from the capsule.”
WATCH LIVE:
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