After Going Where No One Has Gone Before, Artemis Splashes Down Today: See Gallery

Published 04/10/26 at 6:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Lincoln City, Oregon) – Several hundred miles from the Oregon coast (but along the same shoreline), world history will be made later today. Actually, it's more like multiple worlds' history. (Above: NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the Moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey at 6:42 p.m. ET on the sixth day of the mission. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. And then, a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right. Credit: NASA)

NASA teams and the four crewmen themselves are making final preparations for Orion’s return as Artemis II heads toward re-entry and splashdown, scheduled for about 8:07 p.m. (5:07 p.m. PDT) on Friday, April 10, off the coast of San Diego.

See the gallery of photos below

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, became the first people to leave Earth's orbit since the Apollo program in 1972

A wide variety of activities are taking place aboard both Integrity and the service module itself.

NASA said re-entry operations begin when the service module separates at approximately 7:33 p.m. EDT, about 20 minutes before Orion reaches the upper atmosphere southeast of Hawaii. A final trajectory-adjustment burn at 7:37 p.m. will refine the flight path before the spacecraft performs a series of roll maneuvers to distance itself from departing hardware. Orion is expected to reach peak velocity - roughly 23,864 mph - just before entry interface.

Part of the far side of the moon caught by Artemis II

As the capsule descends through roughly 400,000 feet, NASA said it will enter a planned six-minute communications blackout at 7:53 p.m. as plasma builds around the heat shield during peak heating. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs under a nominal landing profile.

Once communications resume, Orion will jettison its forward bay cover and deploy its drogue parachutes near 22,000 feet at 8:03 p.m. The three main parachutes will follow at about 6,000 feet at 8:04 p.m., slowing the spacecraft for splashdown off the California coast near San Diego.

Above: The lower half of the Moon hangs suspended in time in this photograph from the Artemis II crew during the lunar flyby observation period. In the upper center of the photo, the Orientale basin is the prominent feature, with a black patch of ancient lava in the center that punched through the Moon’s crust in an eruption billions of years ago. Credit: NASA

There was a bit of a communications issue Thursday during one major planned maneuver.

Earlier in the day, Orion fired its thrusters for nine seconds, increasing velocity by 5.3 feet per second and pushing the crew past the halfway point of their return trip.

“About two hours before the burn, there was an unexpected return link loss of signal during a data rate change affecting the transmission of communications and telemetry from the spacecraft to the ground,” NASA said. “Two-way communications were reestablished, and flight controllers resumed preparing for the upcoming burn with the crew shortly after. “

NASA officials also held a mission status briefing Thursday, outlining re-entry and splashdown procedures. The third return-trajectory correction burn is scheduled for April 10 at approximately 1:53 p.m. ahead of final descent operations.

The mission's end heralds a host of new achievements, including traveling farther from Earth than anyone has before – even during the Apollo missions of 50 years ago. Artemis II captured numerous amazing images of the far side of the moon, and named some new crater discoveries.

On the first shift during the lunar flyby observation period, the Artemis II crew captured more than two-thirds of the Moon showcasing the intricate features of the nearside. The 600-mile-wide impact crater, Orientale basin, lies along the transition between the near and far sides and is sometimes partly visible from Earth. The round black spot northeast of Orientale is Grimaldi crater, known for its exceptionally dark mare lava floor and heavily degraded rim. Credit: NASA

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