Artemis II astronauts prepare for splashdown

HOUSTON — The four Artemis II astronauts, who conducted a historic lunar flyby, gathered invaluable data and took in unprecedented Moon views, are due to splash down off the Southern California coast on Friday evening.On the trip back home, they will reach speeds of up to 23,839 mph (38,365 kph) as they enter Earth’s atmosphere, a high-risk phase of the mission that will put Orion’s heatshield to the test as it gets battered by intense atmospheric friction.Earlier this week, Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen voyaged further from Earth than any human before, in a mission considered a key stepping stone toward eventual crewed lunar landings.The four astronauts traveling back to Earth from the far side of the moon spoke of their emotions as they wrapped up the unprecedented flight and prepared to re-enter the atmosphere in a “fireball”, during their first press conference from space on Wednesday.Back on Earth, dozens of lunar scientists have been packed in rooms adjacent to NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston this week, scribbling down notes and debating a steady stream ‌of both ⁠real-time and recorded audio from the Artemis II astronaut crew in their Orion spacecraft.The astronauts are scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 5:07 p.m. local time (0007 GMT), after which NASA and the military will help them get out of the capsule and fly them to a recovery ship.The four astronauts on Monday had reached a record-breaking distance from Earth of roughly 252,000 miles, surpassing by some 4,000 miles the previous record held by the Apollo 13 crew for 56 years.Their journey has been rich in milestones and already resulted in stunning photographs that have captivated the imaginations of people on Earth.But until the astronauts are home safe, it’s too early to talk about success, NASA’s Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya told a briefing Thursday.“When we can start celebrating is when we have a crew safely in the medbay of the ship,” the high-ranking official said. “That’s really when we can allow the emotions to take over, and, you know, start talking about success.”“We need to have the crew home before we do that.”The stakes are particularly high given concerns that arose during Artemis I, a 2022 uncrewed test flight to the Moon and back that saw the Orion heat shield erode in unexpected ways.During their reentry, the Orion spacecraft will face temperatures peaking around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius), or half as hot as the surface of the Sun.The astronauts will come hurtling back at a maximum velocity of 34,965 feet (10,657 meters) per second — more than 30 times the speed of sound.The heat shield is meant to slowly erode — “ablate,” as NASA puts it — to protect the capsule, a process that during Artemis I was disrupted.To minimize any risk to the crew, NASA has changed the reentry path they had used in that test mission, after determining it had played a role in the complications.“We have high confidence in the system and the heat shield and the parachutes and the recovery systems we put together,” Kshatriya said. “The engineering supports it, the Artemis I flight data supports it. All of our ground test supports it. Our analysis supports it.”“And tomorrow, the crew is going to put their lives behind that confidence.”Asked later about stress levels on the ground, NASA’s associate administrator said “it’s impossible to say you don’t have any irrational fears left.”“But I would tell you, I don’t have any rational fears about what’s going to happen.”NASA said loved ones of the astronauts will be watching the return from Houston’s mission control.Catherine Hansen, the wife of astronaut Jeremy, told AFP that “it has been a very emotional week.”“There’s been a lot of happiness and excitement, a lot of joy,” she said, but also “some anxiety and some wanting to get him home safely.”The second phase of the Artemis program has been described by NASA as a “test mission,” including to verify the reliability of the Orion capsule, which before now had not carried humans.It was also a voyage marked by historic achievements: Glover was the first person of color to fly around the Moon, Koch was the first woman, and Canadian Hansen the first non-American.The crew have reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse as well as meteorite impacts.NASA senior official Lakiesha Hawkins told a briefing this week that “when the mission goes well, it can look like flying to the Moon is easy.”“It certainly is not,” she continued. “We can’t forget that this is a test flight, and we are taking everything that we’re learning forward to support the next mission.”Mission commander Reid Wiseman reflected that “what we really hoped in our soul is that we could, for just a moment, have the world pause — and remember that this is a beautiful planet in a very special place in our universe.”“We should all cherish what we have been gifted.”