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Follow live updates as NASA targets 12:39 p.m. ET, Sunday, Dec. 11, for the splashdown of an uncrewed Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. It marks the conclusion of the agency’s Artemis I test flight to the moon and back.
Orion will blaze back into the Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000 mph before “skipping” out to bleed off speed and the g-forces associated with atmospheric re-entry from a lunar trajectory. It will then dip back into the atmosphere for its final descent and slow to about 300 mph. Parachutes will be deployed to slow the spacecraft to just 20 mph before splashing down in the ocean.
The spacecraft will puncture back into Earth’s atmosphere faster and experience hotter re-entry temperatures than any other spacecraft designed for human spaceflight in addition to traveling the record-breaking farthest distance from Earth.
The conclusion of Orion’s 1.4 million mile journey comes 25 and a half days after launching atop NASA’s 322-foot Space Launch System rocket on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It wraps up a mission dedicated to pushing Orion to the limits ahead of hosting numerous astronaut missions over the next decade.
Separation coming up
11:45 a.m: Fifteen minutes until the separation of the Orion crew module from its European Space Agency service module which houses its thrusters and the Orbital Maneuvering System engine. The service module will remain in orbit for a time before plummeting back through the atmosphere and eventually burning up upon re-entry.
Recovery conditions
11: 24 a.m.: NASA spokesperson, Derrol Nail, reports that the sea state at Orion’s splashdown site is about 4-5 feet in height. That’s within the limitations of recovery operations.
Welcome to live coverage
11 a.m.: Good morning. Welcome to live coverage of today’s return journey of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Splashdown is set for 12:39 p.m. ET off the coast of Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean. Orion will be testing out a new re-entry technique that NASA refers to as a “skip re-entry.” Orion will dip once into the atmosphere blazing in before it skips back out to alleviate some of the stress of re-entry. It will then plunge back into the atmosphere for its final descent. Stay tuned as we highlight the milestones of today’s conclusion of NASA’s Artemis I mission to the moon and back.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Live Updates: Orion splashdown wraps up NASA’s Artemis I moon mission