The Artemis 2 has successfully splashed down into the Pacific exactly on time. Photo / Nasa
The Artemis 2 has successfully splashed down into the Pacific exactly on time. Photo / Nasa
Four astronauts have returned to Earth after becoming the first humans to fly to the moon in more than 50 years.
Nasa’s Artemis 2 mission ended in a final fiery descent, with its crew facing a bone-juddering 13-minute ride through Earth’s atmosphere to the surface.
The astronauts splashed down inthe Pacific Ocean on time at 12.07pm (NZT), the US Navy will pick them up.
The capsule entered a nail-biting, six-minute blackout a few minutes from touching down as plasma heat reached a maximum 2760C around the capsule, cutting off all communication.
Cheers broke out in Mission Control at Houston as communication was re-established with the crew five minutes from splashdown.
Re-entry was more tense than a typical space mission because the heat shield on the Orion crew capsule failed in the earlier Artemis 1 uncrewed test mission. It has not been replaced or redesigned, with only the trajectory tweaked to prevent a recurrence.
The astronauts travelled at a speed of about 39,000km/h – 11km per second – and had to slow down to 32km/h for a safe landing. The spacecraft must also cope with temperatures of up to 2760C during re-entry.
But Nasa was confident it could get them home.
The Artemis 2 passes over Australia and New Zealand as it prepares to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Photo / Nasa
“Every system we’ve demonstrated over the past nine days – life support, navigation, propulsion, communications – all of it depends on the final minutes of flight,” said Amit Kshatriya, Nasa’s associate administrator, at an earlier press conference.
“We have high confidence in the system, in the heat shield, and the parachutes and the recovery system that we’ve put together.”
Since Artemis 2 launched on April 1, astronauts Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have captivated the world with their updates and pictures of Earth and the far side of the moon.
