Artemis 2’s journey around the moon enters the extended space – here’s how to view the splash

NASA’s lunar probe team crossed the interstellar space between the moon and Earth today on its return journey — and it’s picking up speed as it makes landfall near the California coast in Friday’s live broadcast.

At the end of the so far successful Artemis 2 mission, the astronauts are relying on the Orion space capsule’s propulsion system, heat shield and parachutes to function properly.

“We’re going to go into space at about 40 times the speed of sound, and then we’re going to come down to the Pacific at 20 miles an hour,” NASA astronaut Victor Glover told the conference team today during a Q&A. “The heat shield and the parachutes will make it fun and slow. … We’re looking forward to seeing the dive team and the Navy to pick us up.”

Glover and his crew — mission commander Reid Wiseman, mission technician Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — have been testing Orion’s systems during a mission aimed at preparing a possible lunar landing as early as 2028. Their 10-day journey marks the first time humans walked on the moon in 1971 on Apollo 27.

Artemis 2 pilot Jeff Radigan was asked during a press conference how Friday’s entry and landing would compare to the “Seven Minutes of Fear” experienced by NASA’s Curiosity rover when it landed on Mars in 2012.

“It’s 13 minutes for things to go well,” Radigan said, referring to the time between the first entry into the atmosphere and splashdown. Then he corrected his words. “It’s not 13 minutes,” he said. “An hour and a half of things that should go well.”

NASA has been live-streaming the 10-day mission on YouTube since the Orion spacecraft, called Integrity by its crew, lifted off aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on April 1. But the space agency will boost its access to high orbit on Friday with a special program beginning at 3:30 pm PT. That program will be broadcast on commercial broadcast services as well as on YouTube and NASA+.

The show will also be broadcast on the big screen at the Museum of Flight’s William M. Allen Theater in Seattle. Doors open for seating at 3 p.m. This event is free for museum members and includes museum admission. Museum-goers arriving after 3 pm can request the Sunset Special for a 50% discount on admission.

Here is the schedule for Artemis 2’s homecoming. All times are PT:

4:15 p.m.: The provision of communications from the Deep Space Network to orbital Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, also known as TDRS.

4:33 p.m.: The Orion crew module separates from the service module built by the European spacecraft. After separation, the service module burns up in space while the crew module guides itself down.

4:37 p.m.: The final renovation of the incinerator is planned. Orion begins a series of orientation rolls.

4:53 p.m.: Login interface. Orion hits the upper atmosphere at an altitude of about 400,000 feet. The spacecraft performs a “slope-in” maneuver to help reduce its speed. NASA developed this “skip in” after the 2022 Artemis 1 mission saw an unexpected charge on the heat shield. The high trajectory helps to distribute the heat evenly.

Friction with the space plasma will heat the air around the capsule to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, creating a layer of ionized plasma that blocks radio signals. The communications outage is expected to last about six minutes.

“The profile of the G will actually be very similar to what was introduced,” Glover said. “We will enter 3 G on the way down to enter in a normal way, but if it is a game [entry]we can go up to 9, 10 G, which is the drag of a fighter jet.”

4:59 p.m.: Communication with Orion is expected to resume. The spacecraft’s forward port cover must be deployed at an altitude between 36,000 and 24,000 feet.

5:03 pm: Drogue parachutes operate at 22,000 feet.

5:04 p.m.: Larger parachutes operate at 6,000 feet.

5:07 p.m.: Splashdown. The main parachute will be cut, and Orion will inflate helium-filled airbags to ensure the capsule floats right up.

Orion’s landing will be monitored from the air and sea, and recovery teams are expected to take less than two hours to get the astronauts out of the capsule and fly by helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha, a naval transport ship.

The astronauts will be screened and taken ashore in San Diego, where they will board a plane that will take them to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Meanwhile, the Orion capsule will be towed back to the deck of the USS John P. Murtha for transport.

Friday’s homecoming will put some of Orion’s Seattle-area assets to the test:

• L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne facility in Redmond, Wash., supplied the 12 reaction control thrusters critical to reentry, as well as eight auxiliary engines for the service module. The Redmond team was involved in the maintenance of Artemis 2’s Orion main engine, which was originally used on the space shuttle Atlantis – and will play a major role in building future super engines.
• The Karman Space & Defense Center in Mukilteo, Wash., developed the thruster separation system that will be used to throw the Orion’s cover forward. That cover has to come out for the spacecraft’s parachutes to work, at a height high enough for the parachutes to open properly.
• The Mukilteo plant also manufactures side hatch evacuation systems that the Orion crew could use in the event of an emergency landing after a crash.

US Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., spoke about Washington state’s support role while participating in today’s congressional debate on astronauts.

“This mission is a huge investment in science and a testament to human achievement,” he told the crew. “Orion’s thrusters are built right here in Washington state. And I invite you all to come see the innovation and the people it has inspired.”

Cantwell then asked what could be learned from the moon using human eyes that could not be learned from robots.

Glover took the microphone. “You know, I hope this really resonates because of the things that happened back there, at least what we hear continuously in our homes and communities,” she said. “I think all of you can feel the power these machines bring.”

He remembers that one of his friends said to him, “I want to know how it is, there will be many pictures, but I want to know how it is.”

“I think a rover can collect data very slowly, but a human would be able to do it very quickly,” Glover said. “But then they’ll come back and tell you what it’s like, physically, in a technical and medical sense, but also in an emotional sense, so that we can continue to have that human connection. Not just science and testing, but human connection.”