The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission — the first crewed flight around the Moon in more than 50 years — spent Flight Day 9 on Thursday wrapping up activities and preparing for their splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.
The crew, comprising Reid Wiseman (Commander), Victor Glover (Pilot), and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, began their day aboard the Orion spacecraft with the song ‘Lonesome Drifter’ by Charley Crockett as they sped towards Earth at a distance of about 1,47,337 miles.
The astronauts, who completed a successful lunar flyby on Tuesday and exited the Moon’s sphere of influence a day later, are now on the homeward leg of their 10-day test flight. On Thursday, they focused on stowing equipment, removing cargo and locker netting, and configuring the cabin for re-entry. They also reviewed the latest weather briefing, recovery force status, and the detailed entry timeline, along with post-landing operations.
A key activity scheduled for the day was the second return trajectory correction burn at 9.53 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), during which Jeremy Hansen was to monitor the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation, and propulsion systems. This burn will further refine Orion’s path for a safe atmospheric re-entry.
Final preparations and splashdown timeline
NASA teams on the ground are making final arrangements for Orion’s re-entry and splashdown, targeted for Friday, April 10, around 8.07 pm EDT (5.37 am IST on April 11) off the coast of San Diego, California.
According to the detailed timeline:
Service module separation is expected around 7.33 pm EDT.
A final trajectory adjustment burn will occur at 7.37 pm.
Orion will enter communications blackout at 7.53 pm during peak re-entry heating, with the crew expected to feel up to 3.9 Gs.
Drogue parachutes will deploy near 22,000 feet, followed by the three main parachutes around 6,000 feet.
After splashdown, recovery teams aboard helicopters from the USS John P Murtha will extract the crew within two hours. The astronauts will undergo initial medical evaluations before being flown back to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The crew also shared a group hug inside Orion as they prepared for their return, an image released by NASA.
Artemis II mission significance
Artemis II, launched on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center, is a critical crewed test flight for the Orion spacecraft and the broader Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028.
The mission has achieved key milestones, including the crew becoming the most distant humans from Earth (surpassing the Apollo 13 record) and conducting observations of the far side of the Moon.
Live coverage of the return will begin at 6.30 pm EDT on NASA+, YouTube, and other platforms, followed by a post-splashdown news conference later in the evening (4 am IST on April 11).