IT·Science News

Artemis II splashes down off San Diego, ending humanity’s first Moon trip in 54 years

NASA’s Orion capsule carrying the four Artemis II astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at 5:07 p.m. Pacific time on Friday 10 April, ending a 10-day mission around the Moon, according to a Tribune News Service report carried by The Brunswick News. The crew – commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen – swung around the far side of the Moon on 6 April and left the lunar sphere of influence on 7 April.

The report described re-entry as one of the riskiest moments of the flight: the capsule streaked through the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, in a fireball of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. India’s Kerala Kaumudi, writing before splashdown, put the speed at about 40,000 km/h and set out the recovery plan: parachutes for a gentle landing, Navy helicopters and drones tracking the descent, divers checking for toxic fumes before the hatch opened, and a flight to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.

How each outlet framed it

• The Brunswick News (TNS) — the danger: the heat and speed of the return as the last big test of the mission.
• Euronews — the next step: with the flight complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a Moon landing by another crew in about two years, and a Moon base within a decade.
• Kerala Kaumudi — the logistics: what happens minute by minute after the capsule hits the water, timed for Indian readers at 5:37 a.m. IST.

What we don't know yet: what NASA’s post-flight checks of Orion will show, and whether the landing timeline cited by Euronews will hold.