Artemis II Returns to Earth With Heat Shield and Splashdown

The Artemis II crew has already etched its place in spaceflight history with a lunar flyby, extraordinary views of the Moon and a trove of mission data. But for NASA, the moment that matters most in the ten-day voyage still lies ahead: bringing the astronauts safely home.

Earlier this week, Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Jeremy Hansen, travelled farther from Earth than any humans before them. The mission is widely seen as a pivotal step toward future crewed landings on the Moon and beyond.

They are due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 5.07pm local time (1.07am Irish time). From there, NASA and military teams will help them out of the capsule before transferring them by air to a recovery ship.

An infographic of the voyage

The mission has already delivered a string of landmark moments, along with striking images that have stirred awe far beyond the space community.

“When we can start celebrating is when we have a crew safely in the medbay of the ship,” the high-ranking official said. “That’s really when we can allow the emotions to take over, and, you know, start talking about success.”

“We need to have the crew home before we do that.”

Vital heat shield

That caution is especially sharp because of issues uncovered during Artemis I, the uncrewed 2022 test flight to the Moon and back, when Orion’s heat shield wore away in ways engineers had not expected.

The heat shield is central to the spacecraft’s survival. During re-entry, Orion will encounter temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) — roughly half as hot as the surface of the Sun.

The astronauts will also be racing back through the atmosphere at a top speed of 34,965 feet (10,657 metres) per second, or more than 30 times the speed of sound.

The shield is designed to wear down gradually — or “ablate”, in NASA’s terminology — as it protects the capsule. During Artemis I, that process did not unfold as planned.

To reduce risk for the crew, NASA has altered the re-entry route used on the earlier test flight after concluding that trajectory contributed to the problem.

“We have high confidence in the system and the heat shield and the parachutes and the recovery systems we put together,” Mr Kshatriya said. “The engineering supports it, the Artemis I flight data supports it. All of our ground test supports it. Our analysis supports it.”

And “the crew is going to put their lives behind that confidence”.

Asked later about the pressure felt on the ground, NASA’s associate administrator said “it’s impossible to say you don’t have any irrational fears left”.

“But I would tell you, I don’t have any rational fears about what’s going to happen.”

Joy and anxiety

A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman

NASA said relatives of the astronauts will watch the homecoming from mission control in Houston.

Catherine Hansen, the wife of astronaut Jeremy, told AFP that “it has been a very emotional week”.

“There’s been a lot of happiness and excitement, a lot of joy,” she said, but also “some anxiety and some wanting to get him home safely.”

NASA has described this second phase of the Artemis programme as a “test mission”, aimed in part at proving the reliability of the Orion capsule, which had never before carried people.

It has also been a mission packed with firsts: Glover became the first person of colour to fly around the Moon, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American.

From orbit, the crew vividly described features of the lunar surface and later observed a solar eclipse as well as meteorite impacts.

Watch: Artemis II and its return to Earth

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NASA senior official Lakiesha Hawkins said at a briefing this week that “when the mission goes well, it can look like flying to the Moon is easy”.

“It certainly is not,” she continued. “We can’t forget that this is a test flight, and we are taking everything that we’re learning forward to support the next mission.”

Late Wednesday, astronaut Koch said that “every single thing we do” is being done with the next crew in mind.

Wiseman, the mission commander, said the crew had hoped “in our soul” that the journey might prompt the world to stop, if only briefly, and reflect on Earth’s place in the cosmos.

“We should all cherish what we have been gifted.”