Friday April 10, 2026 | SAN DIEGO, CA [Posted 12:30 pm PT | Updated 1:22 pm & 3:34 pm & 3:48 pm PT]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The Artemis II crew will be home later today.
Yesterday the four astronauts wrapped up a busy day of preparing the cabin and themselves for today’s splashdown. That included where to store things and how much food to keep out for consumption during another half-day’s work on board.
The splashdown time is scheduled for 5:07 pm PT in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California.
Suited up:
The astronauts were suited-up completely as at 3:47 pm PT (per the voice of one of the astronauts on the NASA livestream).
The were still doing various technical checks after that.
Landing with a gentle splash after high heat:
When the shuttle arrives at splashdown it will be travelling at 30 kph (19 mph) when it gently hits the ocean; this is a remarkable feat of physics to slow down a capsule that will be entering the Earth’s atmosphere at 40,000 mph (about 10 km per second) — much faster than the speed of sound.
During atmospheric re-entry from the Moon, the Orion capsule’s heat shield will face extreme temperatures of approximately 2,700°C to 2,800°C (approximately 4,900°F to 5,000°F). Those temperatures are sufficient to melt steel and are about half as hot as the surface of the Sun.
Artemis I (the previous mission) had some trouble with the heat shield; for the Artemis II re-entry the trajectory has been changed to help reduce the heat level.
After splashdown, the astronauts will be transported back to land by helicopter (final destination being the Johnson Space Centre in Houston) while a navy ship will collect and return the space capsule to NASA.
A diver and a medical doctor will first enter the capsule to see how the crew is doing, and then the four astronauts will emerge to the celebration of humanity.
The past 10 days:
The Artemis II mission has been 10 days. Launch took place at 6:35 pm ET from Florida on April 1, 2026.
An extraordinary level of telecommunications has made real-time communications possible not only between the crew and mission control in Houston but also for everyone around the world to tune into livestream transmissions (including on YouTube).
===== RELATED:
- Astronaut Jeremy Hansen on mission funding & just doing your best (April 9, 2026)
- Artemis II: Computers, iPhones & email (April 8, 2026)
- Artemis II crew wakes up Day 8 to ‘Under Pressure’ (April 8, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 6 takes Orion behind the Moon (April 6, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 5 tech talk and Easter messages (April 5, 2026)
- Hansen chats with Canadian youth in Sunday morning livestream (April 5, 2026)
- Artemis II from Earth to Moon and back: Day 4 update (April 4, 2026)
- Artemis II crew: burning smell so far not of concern (April 4, 2026)
- Artemis II: Day 3 meals & tech work (April 3, 2026)
- Artemis II: Col Jeremy Hansen says “It was a great burn!” (April 2, 2026)
- Day 2 technology details for Artemis II crew (April 2, 2026)
- Artemis II: troubleshooting some technical things (April 2, 2026)
- Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen heads to the moon (April 1, 2026)
- Artemis Mission Updates (NASA)
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