NASA's Artemis II mission is almost over. After 10 days circling the moon and venturing deeper into space than any humans before them, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen are hurtling back toward Earth aboard their Orion spacecraft, dubbed Integrity.
Back to Earth TODAY:
The crew capsule will separate from its service module before plunging into Earth's atmosphere at around 25,000 mph, subjecting the heat shield to temperatures approaching 5,000°F (2,760°C). A six-minute radio blackout will follow, before 11 parachutes deploy in stages to slow the capsule to a gentle 17 mph at water impact, off the coast of San Diego, California.
The mission (the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in December 1972) was packed with historic firsts. Koch became the first woman to travel to the vicinity of the moon; Glover the first person of colour; and Hansen the first non-American citizen to do so. The crew also smashed the record for the farthest distance any human has ever travelled from Earth, surpassing the mark set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Check out our previous stories:
Humans are going back to the Moon.
Artemis II crew sets new world record.
Recovery crews from the US Coast Guard and NASA are already positioned within a 550-mile splashdown zone off San Diego. Once safely aboard the recovery vessel, each astronaut will undergo medical checks before being flown to a San Diego military base and then on to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which the crew last saw on 27 March.
The successful mission sets the stage for NASA's next goal: a crewed lunar landing, currently targeted for 2028, 56 years after the last time human boots touched the surface of the moon.
Times and how to watch LIVE:
NASA is broadcasting every moment of this mission (from pre-launch fueling through splashdown) across multiple free platforms. To make things easier for you, here is the video that provides you the splashdown broadcasting, along with the times:
Pacific (PT): 5:07 PM (Today, Apr 10).
Easter (ET): 8:07 PM (Today, Apr 10).
London (BST): 1:07 AM (Sat, Apr 11).
Madrid (CEST): 2:07 AM (Sat, Apr 11).
UTC / GMT: 00:07 (Sat, Apr 11).
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfhDuOHMp0A</social>