After completing a historic journey around the Moon, the four astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft are now entering the most critical and dangerous phase of their mission, re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The Artemis II astronauts have donned their spacesuits and are working through a checklist to prepare for their high-stakes return to Earth.
What happens during re-entry?
As Orion returns from deep space, it hits Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speed — tens of thousands of kilometres per hour.
The sudden collision with air molecules creates intense friction and compression, generating extreme heat around the spacecraft.
At this stage, the capsule experiences temperatures of about 2,760°C, roughly half the temperature of the Sun’s surface. Despite this, astronauts remain safe inside thanks to advanced heat shielding.
Reentry into the atmosphere is scheduled to begin at 7:53 p.m. ET, when the spacecraft hits the top of Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet, traveling about 30 times the speed of sound.
There will be a six-minute expected communications blackout. The crew is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. ET.
The heat shield: Orion’s protective barrier
The spacecraft is equipped with a specially designed heat shield made of ablative material. Instead of melting all at once, the shield slowly burns away in a controlled process, carrying heat with it and protecting the crew cabin inside.
This is one of the most critical technologies enabling human deep-space return missions.
Communication blackout
During peak heating, Orion will also experience a temporary communication blackout. This happens because the ionised air around the spacecraft blocks radio signals between the capsule and mission control.
For a few minutes, NASA cannot receive any data, making it one of the most nerve-wracking moments of the mission.
Parachute deployment and splashdown
Once Orion slows down enough after re-entry, it will deploy a sequence of large parachutes to further reduce speed.
The final stage is a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery teams will retrieve the astronauts and bring them safely back to land.
Why this mission matters
This return is part of NASA’s Artemis programme, which is testing systems needed for future Moon landings and eventually human missions to Mars.
Each successful splashdown proves that deep-space travel and safe return are possible at greater distances than ever before.
The most dangerous moment of the journey is also the final test — surviving Earth’s fiery embrace after a voyage to the Moon.
The data collected during Artemis II’s 10-day trip around the moon is going to help NASA improve future Artemis missions coming up, including one that will land humans on the moon again, the agency’s associate administrator said.
Scientists have seen “a handful of minor anomalies” during the mission that they know will need to be fixed, NASA’s Amit Kshatriya told CNN.
“But I think the big, the big lesson for us is just fully witnessing the crew and the environment having Orion and the environment is supposed to fly in and learning how she performs, tuning all the systems the right way,” he said.
Those fixes seem like they will be “easy, relatively straightforward,” according to Kshatriya. Officials have been “very pleased” so far by the performance of the Orion capsule, he said.
