Blasting through the atmosphere at 30 times the speed of sound, NASA’s Orion spacecraft blazed a trail over the Pacific Ocean and returned home with four astronauts on Friday, safely ending humanity’s first trip to the moon in nearly 54 years.
The temperature outside the capsule, which is built to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is like the plasma sheath that surrounds the Orion spacecraft Honestyand its four long-range travelers temporarily block radio signals from the Lunar Rover and Mission Control at Houston. Flying southwest to northeast, the spacecraft headed toward the splash zone southwest of San Diego, where a U.S. Navy recovery ship was positioned to await the crew’s return home. Ground crews regained contact with Orion commander Reid Wiseman after a six-minute blackout.
Aerial surveillance aircraft broadcast live video of Orion’s descent to Mission Control, showing the capsule discarding its parachute cover and deploying a series of chutes to stabilize its descent into the Pacific Ocean. Later, three larger main channels, each 10,500 square feet in area, opened to slow Orion for the jump at 8:07 p.m. EDT Friday (00:07 UTC Saturday).
In just 14 minutes, Orion bled at about 25,000 mph, exposing the crew huddled in their seats to two brief bursts of about 3.9 Gs.
U.S.S John P. Murtha the amphibious transport ship sent helicopters and small boats to begin evacuating Wiseman and Artemis II crewmates: Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman reported that there were “four green crew members” in the cockpit of the Orion spacecraft, confirming good health and high spirits after the jump.
Koch exited the capsule first, joining Navy divers on an inflatable raft, or “front porch,” stacked next to the ship. Glover was next, then Canadian astronaut Hansen climbed out of Orion onto the front porch. The ship’s captain, Wiseman, was the last to leave and join the recovery team. Two helicopters were expected to lift the astronauts from the sea and deliver them to the sea John P. MurthaWhere they had to undergo a medical before traveling to San Diego, then returned to Houston on Saturday to meet their families.
