10:25 p.m. EDT: The Artemis 2 crew is safely aboard the USS Murtha after a smooth recovery. That’s it for tonight’s live updates.
9:21 p.m. EDT: Recovery of the crew is underway. The flight surgeon on Orion reports all four astronauts are in good condition. Once the “front porch” is fully inflated and is in place the astronauts will emerge.
8:36 p.m. EDT: The recovery teams will soon approach the capsule and setup a raft, or deck, for the astronauts. They will emerge from the spacecraft and get their sea legs on the raft before boarding a helicopter to be transported to the USS Murtha.
8:28 p.m. EDT: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks with NASA TV.
8:22 p.m. EDT: Communications between the crew and the recovery teams through satcoms isn’t working at the moment.
8:12 p.m. EDT: The crew are in excellent shape. Orion’s five airbags have inflated to stabilize the spacecraft and help the recovery teams get the astronauts out of the Orion capsule.
8:07:20 p.m. EDT: Slowing to 20 mph, Orion has splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, completing the Artemis 2 crew’s return to Earth and a 1,117,658–kilometre (694,481-mile) journey.
8:05 p.m. EDT: The drogues have released, and the three main parachutes have deployed, reducing Orion’s speed to less than 136 mph.
8:04 p.m. EDT: The drogue parachutes have deployed at around 22,000 feet in altitude, slowing and stabilizing the capsule as Orion nears splashdown.
8:01 p.m. EDT: Communication has been restored.
7:57 p.m. EDT: Multiple assets have a visual on Integrity NASA reports.
7:53 p.m. EDT: Entry interface has begun as Orion reached 400,000 feet above Earth’s surface while traveling nearly 35 times the speed of soun d. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in the planned entry profile. This moment marks the spacecraft’s first contact with the upper atmosphere and the start of a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma builds around the capsule.
7:37 p.m. EDT: The raise burn is complete to set the proper entry angle and align the heat shield for atmospheric interface.
7:33 p.m. EDT: Orion’s crew module has separated from the service module. Everything indicates Integrity’s systems “are in good shape.”
7:04 p.m. EDT: The Artemis 2 crew is just over an hour from splashdown.
6:25 p.m. EDT: The latest update from NASA reaffirmed that splashdown will be at about 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) off the coast of San Diego. After splashdown, a combined NASA and U.S. military team, will retrieve the crew and transport them by helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha. Once aboard the ship, the astronauts will undergo post-mission medical evaluations before returning to shore to board an aircraft bound for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
3:16 p.m. EDT: At 2:53 p.m. EDT, the Orion spacecraft ignited its thrusters for 8 seconds, producing a change in velocity of 4.2 feet-per-second and pushing Artemis II toward Earth. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen reviewed procedures and monitored the spacecraft’s configuration and navigation data.
Artemis II splashdown timeline
- 7:33 p.m.: Orion’s crew module will separate from the service module, exposing its heat shield for the spacecraft’s return through Earth’s atmosphere, where it will encounter temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 7:37 p.m.: Following separation, Orion will perform an 18 second crew module raise burn beginning to set the proper entry angle and align the heat shield for atmospheric interface.
- 7:53 p.m.: When Orion reaches 400,000 feet above Earth’s surface while traveling nearly 35 times the speed of sound. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in the planned entry profile. This moment marks the spacecraft’s first contact with the upper atmosphere and the start of a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma builds around the capsule.
- 8:03 p.m.: Around 22,000 feet in altitude, the drogue parachutes will deploy, slowing and stabilizing the capsule as Orion nears splashdown.
- 8:04 p.m.: At around 6,000 feet, the drogues will release, and the three main parachutes will deploy, reducing Orion’s speed to less than 136 mph.
- 8:07 p.m.: Slowing to 20 mph, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, completing the Artemis II crew’s return to Earth and a 694,481-mile journey.
- From there, teams from NASA and the U.S. military will extract the crew from Orion and fly them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha.
- Within two hours after splashdown, the crew will be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS Murtha. Recovery teams will retrieve the crew, assist them onto an inflatable raft, and then use helicopters to deliver them to the ship. Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post‑mission medical evaluations before returning to shore where awaiting aircraft will take them to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.