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Artemis II astronauts return to earth after 10-day Moon mission, as Orion spacecraft splashes down in ocean
Astronauts of the Artemis II mission, launched by the United States space agency NASA, have returned safely to Earth, after completing the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years.
After a high speed re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, the Orion spacecraft on Friday splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 5:07pm local time (00:07 GMT).
The capsule was quickly secured by an already-positioned recovery team who brought the crew aboard.
The astronauts consisted of NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian space agency.
The mission commander, Wiseman, radioed mission control minutes before re-entry saying: “We got a great view of the Moon out window 2 – looks a little smaller than yesterday,” with Houston replying, “Guess we’ll have to go back”.
The Orion spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, has demonstrated its ability to safely withstand the intense conditions of a lunar re-entry, after enduring a dramatic 13-minute descent, slamming into the atmosphere at extreme speed.
The exterior temperatures which rose up to 2,760 degrees Celsius (5,000 degrees Fahrenheit), generated a plasma layer that cut off communications with the crew briefly.
Communications were however restored as soon as the parachutes deployed, slowing Orion’s descent as it gently splashed in the ocean.
Recovery crews later opened the hatch to extract the astronauts who were in good condition.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman noted from a US Navy recovery ship: “We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon, bringing them back safely and [are] set up for a series more.”
The mission is considered a test flight critical for future Moon missions, particularly Artemis IV, which aims to land astronauts on the moon’s surface for the first time since the Apollo.
Data from Artemis II would now be analyzed for future deep space missions.
NASA launched the Artemis II mission to send astronauts towards the Moon after 50 years.
The Orion spacecraft took off on Wednesday April 2, from the US state of Florida, sending four astronauts on a historic journey around the Moon.
The journey marked the first time humans have travelled beyond low-Earth orbit in more than 50 years, and a significant step in the United States space agency NASA’s plan to return humans to the Moon and possibly send astronauts to Mars in no distant time.
The launch was witnessed by tens of thousands, as the 32-storey rocket took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
The crew headed farther into space than humans have travelled in decades in a 10-day journey around the Moon and back, capturing images of the dark side of the moon.
