The Artemis II mission successfully completed its return to Earth this Friday, after ten days of a historic trip around the Moon. The Orion capsule landed safely in the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of San Diego, ending one of the most critical stages of NASA’s lunar exploration program.
The four astronauts on board, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, survived the most extreme moment of the return: a re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere for just 13 minutes in which the ship became a sphere of plasma, reaching speeds greater than 40,000 kilometers per hour and temperatures close to 2,500 degrees Celsius.
During those minutes of maximum tension, the capsule lost communication with ground control, as planned. However, After overcoming “radio silence,” the crew managed to reestablish contact with Houston and confirmed that everything was under control.
“Houston, this is Integrity, we receive you loud and clear,” was the message that marked the relief in the control room.verifying that the heat shield had withstood the extreme conditions of re-entry, one of the most monitored components after the damage observed on Artemis I.
Minutes later, the descent sequence continued with the deployment of the braking parachutes, which progressively reduced the speed of the ship until allowing a soft landing in the Pacific. United States Navy teams were responsible for recovering the capsule and rescuing the astronauts.
As confirmed by the mission commander, the four crew members are in perfect condition after completing a journey of more than 1.1 million kilometers.which included a flyby of the far side of the Moon and made them the humans who have traveled the furthest from Earth.
With this successful return, Artemis II not only marks the return of manned lunar exploration after more than half a century, but also paves the way for the next great stage: Artemis III, the mission that seeks to bring humans to the surface of the Moon again.
