The Artemis II crew returned safely to Earth.

The Artemis II spacecraft, with its four-person crew, plunged through Earth's atmosphere and landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on April 10th after nearly 10 days in space, concluding humanity's first moon landing in over half a century.

NASA's teardrop-shaped Orion spacecraft gently landed in calm waters off the coast of Southern California just after 5 p.m. Pacific Time, concluding a mission that took astronauts deeper into space than any previous mission.

The Artemis II mission, traveling a total of 694,392 miles (1,117,515 km) in two Earth orbits and a flyby of the Moon at a distance of 252,000 miles, was the first crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface beginning in 2028.

The sea landing process was streamed live on NASA's website. "A perfect landing for the Integrity spacecraft and its four astronauts," NASA commentator Rob Navias said minutes after landing.

Rescue teams were ready to secure the floating capsule and bring the crew, consisting of American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, back home.

The Artemis II crew capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean after a flyby of the Moon during the Artemis II mission. Source: Reuters.

The safe return of the crew overcame the final critical hurdle for Lockheed Martin's Orion spacecraft, proving it could withstand the extreme forces of its return from orbit to the Moon during the tense 13-minute descent through Earth's atmosphere, generating frictional heat that caused the temperature outside the capsule to soar to around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

At the peak of re-entry pressure, the intense heat and compression created a glowing red layer of ionized gas (or plasma) that enveloped the spacecraft, disrupting radio communication with the crew for several minutes.

The tension eased as communication was re-established and two parachutes were seen deploying from the nose of the free-falling capsule, slowing its descent to about 15 mph (25 kph) before Orion gently touched down on the water.

It is expected that NASA and U.S. Navy teams will take about an hour to secure the floating capsule, assist the four astronauts out of the capsule, transfer them to a helicopter flying overhead, and transport them to the nearby USS John P. Murtha for initial health checks. The crew is expected to spend the night on board and be transported to Houston on April 11 (local time).

Mai Phuong

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/phi-hanh-doan-artemis-ii-tro-ve-trai-dat-an-safe.html