Astronauts of the Artemis II mission have completed half of their journey back to Earth from the Moon overnight and are preparing to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on the night of April 11, according to NASA, writes UNN.
They are halfway home. Artemis II astronauts have reached the "midpoint" between the Moon and Earth. They will land in the Pacific Ocean around 8:07 PM ET on Friday, April 10 (3:07 AM Kyiv time on Saturday, April 11 - ed.), off the coast of San Diego.
The quartet - Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from CSA (Canadian Space Agency) - is scheduled, as Space.com writes, to reach Earth's atmosphere over the open Pacific Ocean at 7:53 PM ET (2:53 AM Kyiv time) and splash down off the coast of San Diego 14 minutes later.
Within two hours of splashdown, the crew is expected to be evacuated from the Orion capsule and transported to the US aircraft carrier USS John P. Murtha. Evacuation teams will return the crew by helicopter, and once aboard the ship, the astronauts will undergo a post-mission medical examination before returning to shore to board a plane bound for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Artemis II astronauts traveled the farthest from Earth in human history06.04.26, 23:53