The Artemis II Astronauts are expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 7:07 pm CST tonight.
Space Editor of Ars Technica, Eric Berger, says about 14 mins before splashdown Orion will meet the earth’s atmosphere. As the spacecraft decreases speed, the capsule will heat up as it slows down moving through the atmosphere. “Three smaller parachutes called drogues will deploy, followed by 3 mains will come out about a minute or so before splashdown and they’ll slow the vehicle down to 20 mph.” Berger said.
When speaking with Houston’s Mission Control on Thursday, the person crew shared their experience, as the astronauts named 2 lunar craters, with one being named after Astronaut Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, a Friendswood RN who died of cancer in 2020. They also brought the Apollo 13 American flag with them and as they memorialized the great event. Berger says the crew described seeing a sunrise, sunset, and lunar eclipse at which they captured stunning photos.
Weather conditions look favorable for the landing with low winds and little chance of precipitation. “They should be good to go for weather. They have alternative sites in the Pacific, but the primary site looks pretty good.” He said.
He says NASA plans to have several Artemis missions. Next year they will kick off Artemis 3 with Orion landing in a lower earth orbit, followed by Artemis 4 with boots on the moon.