Artemis II’s grand moon finale is almost here with a Pacific splashdown to cap NASA’s lunar comeback

HOUSTON — With the big dramatic finale approaching, the Artemis 2 astronauts were aiming to land in the Pacific Ocean on Friday to close out the first human trip to the moon in more than half a century.

Tension rose in mission control as miles dissolved between the four returning astronauts and Earth.

more: When will the Artemis II crew drop?

All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield, which must withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. In the spacecraft’s only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the charred exterior of the shield returned and looked as pierced as the moon.

Commander Reed Wiseman, pilots Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen were on track to reach the atmosphere at Mach 32 — or 32 times the speed of sound — an intense haze not seen since NASA’s Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s.

They didn’t plan to take manual control except in emergency situations. Their Orion capsule, called Integrity, flies completely autonomously.

more: The Artemis II crew will lose contact with mission control during reentry. This is why

Like many others, lead flight director Geoff Radigan expected to feel some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six minutes of communications blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes. The rescue ship USS John P. Murtha was waiting for the crew to arrive with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The last time NASA and the Department of Defense collaborated for a crewed reentry of the Moon was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis 2 was expected to return at 34,965 feet (10,657 meters) per second — or 23,840 miles per hour (38,367 kilometers per hour) — a record but still astonishingly fast before slowing to 19 miles per hour (30 kilometers per hour). com. splashdown.

Artemis II record flight and lunar views

Launching from Florida on April 1, the astronauts won one victory after another as they masterfully navigated NASA’s long-awaited return to the moon, the first major step in creating a sustainable lunar base.

Artemis II did not land on the Moon or even orbit it. But it broke the Apollo 13 distance record, making Wiseman and his crew the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth at 252,756 miles (406,771 km). Then, in the most surprising scene of the mission, the tearful astronauts asked for permission to name a pair of craters after their moon and Weissman’s late wife, Carol.

During the record flyby, they documented views of the far side of the Moon never before seen with the naked eye and enjoyed a total solar eclipse of the cosmos thanks to their launch date. The eclipse in particular “stunned us all,” Glover said.

Everyone was blown away by their sense of wonder and love, as well as their stunning images of the Moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew guided the first lunar explorers aboard Apollo 8 with Earthset, showing our blue marble ocean behind the gray Moon. It was reminiscent of the famous Earthrise shot of Apollo 8 in 1968.

“It makes you want to keep coming back,” Radigan said on the eve of relegation. “It’s the first of many and we just need to keep going because there’s a lot” to learn about the moon.

Their moonshot has attracted global attention as well as star power, and earned props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; King Charles III of Britain; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space movie “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Even Captain Kirk himself, and William Shatner from the original “Star Trek” TV series.

Artemis 2 served as a test flight for future lunar missions

Despite its rich scientific output, the flight, which took nearly 10 days, was not without technical problems. The capsule’s drinking water and fuel systems experienced valve problems. In perhaps the most famous predicament, a toilet problem prevented the crew from using it in the first place during most of the voyage, forcing them to resort to old bags and passages.

The astronauts ignored all of that.

“We can only explore deeper if we do some uncomfortable things, unless we make some sacrifices, unless we take some risks, and all of those things are worth it,” Koch said.

“You do a lot of testing on Earth, but your final test is when you send this device into space and it is very difficult,” Hansen added.

As part of the renewed Artemis program, next year’s Artemis 3 program will see astronauts training to dock their capsule with one or two lunar landers in Earth orbit. Artemis IV will attempt to land a two-person crew near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis 2 crew’s loyalty was to subsequent Artemis crews, Weisman said.

He added: “But we really hope in our souls that for one moment we can stop the world and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our world, and we should all cherish what talent we have been given.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.