All articles tagged with #orion capsule
Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen captured a stunning view of swirling stars from the Orion capsule during NASA’s 10-day lunar flyaround aboard the spacecraft Integrity, a shot that highlights the program's goal of returning humans to the Moon and establishing a longer-term lunar presence (the crew splashed down on April 10).
A distant, pixelated image of NASA's Artemis II Orion capsule Integrity was captured by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, about 213,000 miles from Earth during the Moon flyby. The radio-wave image shows the crewed spacecraft as tiny pixels, with NRAO noting it contains the four astronauts aboard—Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen—while researchers highlighted the feat of tracking the capsule from Earth with extreme precision and its place as a potential record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth within NASA's Artemis program.
NASA added more than 12,000 Artemis II photos from the crew’s 10-day lunar flyby to its public archive, highlighting a curated set of shots—interior Orion views, close lunar approaches, Earthrise scenes, a solar eclipse from space, and Milky Way glimpses—captured by Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen. The crew flew about 4,067 miles (6,545 km) from the Moon and NASA aims to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028; the full gallery is available online for enthusiasts to explore the dozen standout images.
NASA's Artemis II capsule Integrity returned to Florida's Kennedy Space Center after a roughly 10-day circumlunar flight, stowing the record-breaking mission on a successful note. Following a Pacific splashdown, engineers will inspect the capsule's heat shield and recycle mission equipment in preparation for Artemis III’s Earth-orbit docking and a potential lunar landing as early as 2028. The mission carried four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen—who will undergo medical exams and debriefs before their next lunar step.
US Navy divers captured an underwater image of Artemis II's heat shield after splashdown in the Pacific, showing significantly less damage than Artemis I and suggesting improved reentry performance; NASA will continue inspections to confirm durability for future crewed lunar missions.
NASA says Artemis II’s heat shield performed as expected during splashdown, with Navy divers’ photos showing far less char than Artemis I. Initial inspections found no unusual conditions and the capsule will undergo further testing at Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, including sample extraction and x‑ray scans, as NASA refines plans for Artemis III and beyond. The spacecraft reentered at about 35 times the speed of sound, a key milestone for future lunar missions.
NASA astronauts captured the first Earthset on a mobile device during the Artemis II mission, using the iPhone 17 Pro Max to film Earth slipping behind the Moon from the Orion capsule’s docking hatch, with 8x zoom showing crater details and a view comparable to the naked eye.
Artemis II astronauts reported a smooth re-entry from the Moon with only light char loss on the Orion capsule’s heat shield shoulder; NASA said the shield performed as expected, adjusted the entry angle to reduce heat on future flights, and noted speeds during descent reached around Mach 32–39 before parachutes eased the capsule to a Pacific splashdown, with engineers set to review data ahead of Artemis III’s planned lunar landing.
The Artemis II quartet—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—took questions at a Johnson Space Center briefing after a 10-day lunar flyby and homecoming, livestreamed by NASA. They described the high-speed reentry and possible heat shield char loss but called the ride largely smooth, discussed the intense mental and emotional strain of deep-space flight, and praised their crew bond, while underscoring NASA’s plans to push toward a sustained lunar presence and bolder exploration.
The USS John P. Murtha delivered the Artemis II Orion capsule to Naval Base San Diego as four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and Victor Glover—wrapped up a 10-day around-the-moon mission and were recovered after splashdown off the California coast; the moment was celebrated with the ship playing Elton John’s 'Rocket Man,' though recovery was challenged by unexpectedly strong currents and a brief comms hiccup before the crew were brought aboard for medical checks and later returned to Houston on the Apollo 13 anniversary.
Artemis II's four-astronaut crew safely splashed down in the Pacific off California after a 10-day mission that included a lunar flyby; NASA said all four are in good condition as recovery teams prepared the inflatable 'front porch' raft and began extracting them from the Orion capsule for medical checks aboard the recovery ship.
NASA says Artemis 2 can safely re-enter with the same Avcoat heat shield used for Artemis 1, thanks to a lofted skip-entry trajectory that preserves shield permeability and vents gas, addressing the earlier damage seen in Artemis 1. The confidence rests on extensive testing and flight data, though using the current shield means a slightly reduced ability to dodge bad weather at splashdown, and some critics remain skeptical of the approach.
NASA's Artemis II interior design centers on safety and human factors in Orion: adaptive seats for nearly all astronauts, configurable layouts, alternative control devices for limited movement, acoustics and odor control for privacy, and flexible crew quarters. Information displays are organized to show the right data at the right time, with software handling many flight tasks while preserving crew override. Designers treat comfort and autonomy as essential to enable calm, productive operation during reentry and longer missions.
Artemis 2's crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will return from the moon by plunging into Earth’s atmosphere at about 23,840 mph (38,367 kph) around 75 miles up, in a roughly eight-minute fiery reentry before a splashdown in the Pacific off San Diego on April 10. To reduce heat-stress after Artemis 1’s heat-shield damage, Orion will enter at a steeper angle and rely on its Avcoat heat shield, with parachutes deploying to slow the capsule for a Navy recovery after touchdown.
Artemis II’s four astronauts wrap up final tests aboard the Orion capsule after a loop around the Moon, plan a news conference and another manual piloting pass before Friday’s reentry and splashdown off Southern California. NASA scientists are cataloging thousands of photos and video from the far-side daylight pass for new insights into the Moon's evolution; a toilet hiccup is the only notable issue on what is the first piloted Moon mission since the final Apollo landing in 1972.