1 of 3 | A Navy MH-60 Seahawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 is seen as it lifts CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II mission specialist as teams work to bring the crewmembers aboard USS John P. Murtha, on Friday, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. NASA Photo by Joel Kowsky/UPI | License Photo
April 10 (UPI) — The crew of the Artemis II crew returned to Earth after a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after travelling farther from Earth than any humans in history.
The Orion capsule carrying the four-person crew is expected to make a water landing just after 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday evening, capping their 10-day mission to test NASA’s new spacecraft while taking the next steps to returning humans to the surface of the moon.
Thus far, the mission has been successful in most ways, but NASA engineers have noted that the most important part is the return to Earth.
“Every system we’ve demonstrated over the past nine days — life support, navigation, propulsion, communications — all of it depends on the final minutes of flight,” Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, told reporters on Thursday.
“We have confidence in the system, in the heat shield, and the parachutes and the recovery system that we’ve put together,” he said.
One of the main concerns after the Artemis I uncrewed launch was unexpected charring on the heat shield of the Orion capsule, which protects astronauts from the heat created as the spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere at 40 times the speed of sound.
A combination of adjustments to the heat shield and late mission burns to adjust the angle that the capsule reenters the atmosphere is expected to resolve NASA’s concerns after the first flight of the Artemis Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket carrying the Artemis II crew is launched from Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1, 2026. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
