GoKawiilDeath, taxes, and the gravitationally bound return of the Artemis II mission on Friday evening. These are the only certainties in life.
Even if the four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft discovered a serious flaw in their spacecraft today—and to be clear, from recent images reviewed by NASA experts, everything looks just fine—there is no chance of significantly altering the Artemis II mission’s inexorable return through Earth’s atmosphere on Friday. They’re coming back one way or another.
Splashdown is predicted to occur at 8:07 pm ET (00:07 UTC Saturday), a few hundred miles off the coast of Southern California. In large and important ways, this is the most critical phase of the lunar flight. Here, then, is what to expect later today.
Final preparations
This afternoon, if necessary, the Orion spacecraft may make a small, final burn to correct its trajectory back toward Earth. This is to set up an entry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, a little to the southeast of Hawaii.
At 7:33 pm, or 44 minutes before splashdown, the Crew Module will separate from the Service Module. This back half of the spacecraft, built by the European Space Agency, has provided the majority of power to Orion during the last nine days, as well as its propulsion. This will expose the Crew Module’s heat shield for the first time.
Four minutes later, using small reaction control thrusters, the Crew Module will raise itself away from the Service Module and take a final opportunity to fine-tune the angle of its entry into the atmosphere. This positioning is pivotal, as the heat shield must be oriented to properly absorb all of the heat from atmospheric reentry.
“Let’s not beat around the bush—we have to hit that angle correctly,” said Jeff Radigan, one of the mission’s flight directors.