Space & Astronomy

Live: Artemis II crew set to return home in tense and dramatic reentry

By T.K. Randall
April 10, 2026

Image: Artemis II Group Shot
Credit: (PD) NASA It has been quite a ride over the last 9 days or so, from the spectacular launch from Cape Canaveral atop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) to the crew's flyby of the Moon, which saw them reach a distance further from the Earth than any other astronauts in history.

All good things must come to an end, however, as Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen prepare to return home later on today.

This is arguably the most risky part of the whole mission - the Orion capsule will soon separate from the service module before plunging through Earth's atmosphere at 25,000mph, making this one of the fastest crew re-entries ever attempted.

During this time, the capsule will be exposed to temperatures of over 2,700C, with nothing but a thin heat shield to protect the spacecraft from burning up.Once they've made it through this part of the descent, parachutes will deploy to slow them down and ensure a gentle splashdown in the ocean off the coast of San Diego.

After that, recovery crews will intercept the capsule and get the astronauts out.

The re-entry is sure to make for some nail-biting viewing, especially since communication will be lost for several minutes.

As always, NASA will be streaming the whole thing live - you can watch the feed below.

Splashdown is expected to occur at 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT).


Source: NASA.gov

Tags: Artemis, Moon