‘Fireball, blackout, splashdown’: How Artemis II crew will survive journey back to Earth — Here's what to expect

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NASA's Artemis II crew, having traveled farther than any astronauts before, is returning to Earth after a successful mission. They will splash down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, where the USS John P. Murtha will retrieve them.

Artemis II Breaks Record for Farthest Human Travel from Earth, Surpassing Apollo 13

After successfully rounding the Moon, NASA’s Artemis II crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — have begun their return journey to Earth, having traveled farther into space than any astronauts in history.

Here's look at some top update and what happens next:

The finale to NASA's celebrated 10-day mission was expected to begin with separation of Orion's crew capsule from its service module, followed by a fiery re-entry through Earth's atmosphere and a six-minute radio blackout before the capsule parachutes into the sea.

Artemis 2's Orion will enter Earth's atmosphere at a steeper angle than originally planned, in order to reduce the time spent moving through the atmosphere at high velocity and temperature, and hopefully reducing the chances of damage, Space.com has reported

As Orion descends, it will be engulfed in a blazing plasma fireball outside the windows. “The descent will be rough and tumble, and for a short time communications with ground control will be cut off by the plasma envelope around the capsule”

At about 26,500 feet above the Pacific Ocean, Orion will still be racing down at 325 mph. Pyrotechnics will deploy three small forward-bay-cover parachutes. Then at 25,000 feet, two larger drogue chutes will open to stabilize the capsule.

At 9,500 feet, with speed reduced to 130 mph, the main parachute sequence will begin.

“The main parachutes have a more complicated system. First, three pilot chutes will release, each 11 feet (3.4 m) in diameter, and these pilot chutes will pull out the three mains, which are a huge 116 feet (35.3 m) wide, each weighing 310 lbs (140 kilograms), with the Orion crew module dangling 265 feet (81 m) beneath them.”

If all goes well, the astronauts will end up bobbing safely in the ocean aboard their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, shortly after 8 p.m. ET (0000 GMT) off the coast of San Diego.

NASA has reported that the team is halfway home.

The Artemis II astronauts have hit the "halfway" mark between the Moon and the Earth. They will splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 8:07 pm ET on Friday, April 10 (0007 UTC on Saturday, April 11), off the coast of San Diego.

After their splashdown, US Navy's USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) would retrieve the crew and Orion spacecraft, as per the US Indo Pacific Command.

Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz hailed the accomplishment of the astronauts and said that they inspired a whole new generation of space explorers.

The Artemis II mission has broken the record for the farthest distance travelled by humans from Earth, breaking the Apollo 13 mission's record of 248,655 miles. Artemis II is NASA's first crewed test flight in the Artemis campaign.

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Sanchari Ghosh

Sanchari Ghosh is a Chief Content Producer at Livemint with 12 years of experience. She takes a keen interest in all things news. Before joining LiveMint, Sanchari worked with BloombergQuint, Outlook Money, Times of India & DNA. Off duty, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast at heart and alternates between tennis, football, and cricket.

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