MIAMI, Florida, USA- This Thursday, the astronauts of Artemis II of the NASA preparations will begin for re-entry to Earth and the amerization scheduled for tomorrow, which will be his last full day in space after becoming the first human beings to orbiting the Moon in half a century.
The four crew members –Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch y Victor Gloverfrom NASA, and Jeremy Hansenof the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)- began the ninth day of the mission under the sound of ‘Lonesome Drifter‘, the theme of Charley Crockett that NASA chose to wake them up this Thursday.
Maneuver: correction in return trajectory
Charlie Crockett’s “Lonesome Drifter” marks the beginning of flight day 9 for the Artemis II astronauts.
Enjoy the Moon tunes on our Wake-Up Songs Spotify playlist: https://t.co/2fcXhC5iEN pic.twitter.com/oRM3I9oGyq
— NASA (@NASA) April 9, 2026
The day also includes a correction maneuver on the return trajectorythe second since they flew over the moon last Monday and headed towards Earth.
Re-entry and splashdown on our planet will take place on Friday. The astronauts will fall into the Pacific Ocean in front of the California coast at 8:07 p.m. Eastern time (00:07 GMT Saturday), where they will be evaluated by doctors and picked up by Armed forces Americans.
Ten days of space mission
LIVE: Agency leaders answer media questions and provide updates on our Artemis II mission around the Moon. https://t.co/8SWdRAQlJF
— NASA (@NASA) April 9, 2026
That milestone will mark the end of ten days of space missionwhich began with the launch last Wednesday from Cape CanaveralFlorida, and became the first manned spacecraft to reach lunar orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Orion ship It is located less than 240,000 kilometers from Earth, where it is heading at about 4,450 kilometers per hour.
Facing the entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, which begins with the detaching the capsule from the Orion module 42 minutes before landingthe astronauts will study re-entry and landing procedures, and will talk with the flight control team, according to NASA.
Additionally, they will prepare the cabin for that moment and install your seats to make sure everything is securely fastened.
To prepare the cockpit, the teams chose to forego the armor deployment demonstration initially planned, NASA reported.
Capsule turned into a fireball
The crew capsule will become a fireball when it enters our planet’s atmosphere and will face temperatures exceeding 2,500 degrees Celsius, almost half the temperature on the surface of the Sun.
It will be one of the most delicate moments of the missionwith the astronauts approaching Earth at a maximum speed of 10,657 meters per second.
They are heat shield -composed of a titanium base- will be responsible for protecting the crew from these temperatures.
NASA made adjustments to this part after Artemis Ian unmanned mission that flew over the Moon in 2022, the shield suffered unexpected erosion during reentry.
You might also be interested: “Artemis II Mission: Key tests carried out”
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