The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission are expected to return to Earth Friday evening, completing a historic journey that carried them farther into space than any humans have traveled in decades.
The crew is traveling inside the Orion capsule, which will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at a blistering speed of about 40,000 kilometres per hour. During the descent, the spacecraft’s heat shield will protect the astronauts from temperatures reaching roughly 2,700 degrees Celsius as a blazing fireball forms around the vehicle.
Among the crew is Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who made history as the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to participate in a lunar mission. Hansen and his three American crewmates spent the past 10 days on a deep-space journey that marks a major step toward NASA’s goal of returning humans to the Moon.
During the mission, Hansen communicated with children, journalists and political leaders from space, including conversations with a prime minister and a U.S. president.
NASA has carefully choreographed the capsule’s return using a series of precisely timed maneuvers, parachute deployments and weather assessments to ensure a safe landing in the Pacific Ocean.
The space agency plans to begin livestreaming the return process at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.
At 7:33 p.m., the Orion crew module will separate from its service module, which carries the spacecraft’s solar panels, engines, radiators, oxygen and water tanks.
A few minutes later, at 7:37 p.m., the crew module will perform a burn to position itself correctly for atmospheric entry.
The spacecraft is expected to begin re-entry at 7:53 p.m., when Orion will hit the upper atmosphere roughly 400,000 feet above Earth.
Splashdown is scheduled for about 8:07 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams from NASA and the U.S. military will assist the astronauts out of the capsule before transporting them to a recovery ship.
NASA will hold a post-splashdown news conference at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says the final stage of the journey will be physically intense for the crew after more than a week in microgravity.
During the last 30 minutes of descent, the astronauts will feel strong gravitational forces pushing them into their seats as the spacecraft slows dramatically.
After experiencing weightlessness for days, the sudden return of gravity can feel overwhelming.
“You don’t have to hold your head up or lift a finger in space,” Hadfield explained. But as the capsule descends, astronauts begin feeling forces several times their body weight.
“Even your eyeballs feel strangely heavy,” he said.
When the parachutes deploy, the capsule will experience sharp jolts as the massive canopies open and stabilize the spacecraft.
Once the parachutes fully deploy, the descent becomes much smoother until the spacecraft splashes down in the ocean — what astronauts sometimes describe as a controlled “bellyflop.”
The Artemis II mission represents a crucial milestone in NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually pave the way for crewed missions to Mars.