Credits: NASA
They're halfway home. Right now, Orion is going over 3,000mph!
The Artemis II astronauts have hit the "halfway" mark between the Moon and the Earth. They will splash down in the Pacific Ocean around 8:07 pm ET on Friday, April 10 (0007 UTC on Saturday, April 11), off the coast of San Diego.
Picture Info: A sliver of Earth is illuminated against the blackness of space in this photo taken by an Artemis II crew member through an Orion spacecraft window on the third day of the mission.
Posted by yourfavchoom
6 Comments
Imagine looking out your window and seeing this wow that’s insane
The remaining half of the journey will be completed within a day … so amazing to see how gravity works ❤️
Wishing them a safe return home ❤️
Does anyone know if there will be re-entry coverage?
The return home is the most dangerous part of the trip. They’ll enter Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000 MPH (about 30 times the speed of sound ) and heat temperatures will climb to roughly 5,000°F. This is approximately half as hot as the surface of the sun.
NASA will also lose communication for around 6 minutes because of the heat.
As a Columbia disaster nerd, this is the part I clench for; I know Challenger is more embedded in the societal psyche, but return is so dangerous and the heat shields always make me nervous.
Artemis is way better designed than the space shuttles, though.
In a different timeline, this would be the absolute coolest thing and the sole focus of every news outlet.
Instead, we live in the distraction era. Good job, astronauts and NASA team. Sorry that basically no one knows what you did.