APRIL 10, 2026
Re-Entry Awaits the Artemis Astronauts. – Isaac Watson/NASA
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Earlier this week, the four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission rode their Orion craft into the record books, journeying farther beyond their home planet than any humans before them.
Now, after making it around the moon—and taking care of some toilet troubles along the way—they’re heading home. But the mission isn’t over yet.
This week, Micah Maidenberg reports on the huge challenge that still lies ahead for the Artemis crew: navigating the intense heat of re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
The re-entry process is slated to intensify tonight at about 7:30 p.m. ET. If all goes well, the craft will splash down about 40 minutes later in the Pacific Ocean, near San Diego.
The speed—in feet per second—that astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will briefly be traveling as their vehicle returns to Earth. Each will be kept cool in a pressurized flight suit.
Yet the mission’s last chapter carries some of the highest stakes. During descent, the Orion capsule where the astronauts have been living and working will slam into the planet’s atmosphere, exposing it to a firestorm reaching 5,000 degrees. The vehicle must make it through in order for the crew to do the same.
During the previous, uncrewed Artemis mission, the Orion craft’s heat shield didn’t perform as expected, with protective material on the device chipping off. The problem delayed the Artemis II launch as engineers tried to understand and mitigate the risks.
Courtesy/Source: The WSJ
