Artemis II’s astronauts are aiming to splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out the first trip to the moon in more than half a century.
Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another on a 10-day mission as they navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, marking the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.
“Right now they are 77,400 miles out traveling at 4,656 miles an hour. They’re going to speed up, and they’re looking for a splashdown time of 8:07 (p.m.),” said Greg Redfern, WTOP Space Expert.
The astronauts are expected to wake up at 11:35 a.m.
“They’ve got a busy day ahead to come home,” Redfern told WTOP anchors Kyle Cooper and Mike Murillo Friday morning.
NASA has planned out a carefully timed reentry process the crew will undergo before landing.
“They go through the time frame in which the plasma cloud that surrounds them, the spacecraft will be out of radio communication,” Redfern said. “And we wait for that reentry and then the call to integrity. And hopefully we see those beautiful mains that pop out and recovery crew ready to get them.”
A livestream of the Artemis II finale starts at 6:30 p.m. Watch it live below:
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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