For the first time in over half a century, humans journeyed to the Moon — and Friday, they’re coming home.
Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen lifted off April 1 from Kennedy Space Center aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, nicknamed Integrity, on a steppingstone mission toward establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon.
Mission accomplished
Integrity will hit the upper atmosphere at approximately 23,864 mph (38,405 km/h) — a speed that traces back to the translunar injection burn that sent the crew out of Earth orbit and toward the Moon on April 2. That burn pushed Orion just fast enough for the Moon’s gravity to sling the spacecraft around the farside and back toward Earth without any major additional engine firings, and only a few small correction burns to keep it locked on course.
The crew completed their historic lunar flyby on April 6, passing within about 4,067 miles (6,545 kilometers) of the surface and surpassing Apollo 13’s distance record at roughly 252,000 miles (405,554 km) from Earth.
Tonight, Orion’s thrusters will fire one final correction burn before the service module separates Friday. The capsule will endure a six-minute communications blackout during peak heating, deploy parachutes, and splash down off San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT. The crew will then be airlifted to the USS John P. Murtha for medical evaluations.
How to watch
The easiest way to watch is on NASA’s YouTube channel, but you can also stream live coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. EDT on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Netflix, HBO Max, Discovery+, Peacock, and Roku. Coverage will continue until the crew is safely out of Orion and aboard the USS John P. Murtha.
Artemis 2 captured the public imagination in a way space missions haven’t in decades, but it’s just the beginning. Artemis 3’s lunar lander docking demonstration is planned for next year, with Artemis 4’s crewed landing near the lunar south pole to follow in 2028. In a few years, the excitement from Artemis 2 will be overshadowed by boots on the Moon. Before launch, with a mix of foresight and humor, Koch told CBS’s 60 Minutes: “I hope they forget all about Artemis 2.”
