NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which slammed into the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, carved a path over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, returning home with four astronauts and safely capping humanity’s first trip to the Moon in nearly 54 years.
Temperatures outside the capsule reached about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as a layer of plasma enveloped the Orion spacecraft, called Integrityand its four long-distance travelers, temporarily jamming radio signals from the lunar ship and Mission Control in Houston. Flying from southwest to northeast, the spacecraft headed toward a splashdown area southwest of San Diego, where a U.S. Navy recovery ship maintained its position awaiting the crew’s return home. Ground teams regained communications with Orion commander Reid Wiseman after a six-minute blackout.
Airborne tracking planes beamed live video of Orion’s descent to Mission Control, showing the capsule shedding its parachute cover and deploying a series of parachutes to stabilize its fall toward the Pacific. Then, three larger main slides, each with an area of 10,500 square feet, opened to slow Orion down for landing at 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday (00:07 UTC on Saturday).
In just 14 minutes, Orion lost nearly 25,000 mph in speed, subjecting the crew strapped to their seats to two brief periods of approximately 3.9 Gs.
The U.S.S. John P. Murta The amphibious transport ship sent helicopters and small boats to begin extracting Wiseman and his Artemis II crewmates: Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman reported that there were “four green crew members” inside the Orion spacecraft cabin, confirming good health and good spirits after landing.
Koch emerged from the capsule first and joined Navy divers on an inflatable raft, or “front porch,” mounted next to the spacecraft. Glover was next, then Hansen, a Canadian astronaut, walked out of Orion onto the front porch. Wiseman, the ship’s captain, was the last to leave his seat and join the recovery team. Two helicopters were expected to lift the astronauts out of the sea and into the John P. Murtawhere they would undergo medical checks before traveling to San Diego and then back to Houston to join their families on Saturday.
