The Artemis II Orion Spacecraft is set to return to earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego around 8:07 p.m. ET, Friday, April 10, 2026.
After Orion separates from its service module to expose its heat shield, it will encounter temperatures of around 3,000 degrees as it uses the earth’s atmosphere for braking and makes its descent.
Throughout its return and descent, Orion reportedly is expected to slow from a speed of around Mach 32 to splash down at around 18 mph. Astronauts are expected to endure 3.9 G forces, all addressed in the design of the craft and training of the astronauts.
NASA is introducing some changes to the reentry trajectory after some unexpected results in an earlier heat shield’s performance at the end of the unmanned Artemis I mission. That included excessive “char losses.”
- Artemis II Flight Day 10: Crew Sets for Final Burn, Splashdown – NASA
- Artemis 2 LIVE: Orion astronauts returning to Earth – Space.com
- Splashdown 101: Joint Team to Recover Crew, Orion After Moon Missions – NASA
- As Artemis II heads back to Earth today, crew is staking their lives on the heat shield – CBS
- Artemis II splashdown in San Diego: How to stream, weather, watch parties and more; You might hear a sonic boom along the coast when the capsule re-enters the atmosphere shortly before 5 p.m. – San Diego Union-Tribune
- Artemis II splashdown: Why Orion’s re-entry is so high risk – CBC
- After 15 Years, 1,000 Tests, Orion’s Heat Shield Ready to Take the Heat – NASA
- Artemis II splashdown live updates as NASA mission returns to Earth – CBS
- Live updates: Artemis II astronauts return to Earth, concluding NASA moon mission; The crew is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego shortly after 8 p.m. ET, following a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. – NBC
- Artemis II: NASA preparing for Orion’s reentry and splashdown in Pacific Ocean – ABC7 LA
- Artemis II astronauts hurtle home from moon toward splashdown – CNBC
- NASA Answers Your Most Pressing Artemis II Questions – NASA
[the following originally appeared at nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/04/10/artemis-ii-flight-day-10-crew-sets-for-final-burn-splashdown/]
Artemis II Flight Day 10: Crew Sets for Final Burn, Splashdown
The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen — began the final phase of their journey home to the songs “Run to the Water” by Live, selected by the crew, and “Free” by Zac Brown Band, as they prepared for their third return trajectory correction burn and shifted into full re-entry and splashdown preparations. When they woke up, they were 61,326 miles from Earth.
Splashdown is targeted for 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) off the coast of San Diego, where a combined NASA and U.S. military recovery team will be standing by to welcome the Artemis II crew home.
Watch live return coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Netflix, HBO Max, Discovery+, Peacock and Roku starting at 6:30 p.m. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.
Final return burn sets Orion for home
The third return burn will occur at 2:53 p.m., refining Orion’s path for atmospheric entry and splashdown. During the maneuver, the spacecraft will make precise adjustments to stay on its targeted course home.
Artemis II splashdown timeline
A carefully timed sequence will guide Orion through the final stages of descent:
- 7:33 p.m.: Orion’s crew module will separate from the service module, exposing its heat shield for the spacecraft’s return through Earth’s atmosphere, where it will encounter temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 7:37 p.m.: Following separation, Orion will perform an 18 second crew module raise burn beginning to set the proper entry angle and align the heat shield for atmospheric interface.
- 7:53 p.m.: When Orion reaches 400,000 feet above Earth’s surface while traveling nearly 35 times the speed of sound. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in the planned entry profile. This moment marks the spacecraft’s first contact with the upper atmosphere and the start of a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma builds around the capsule.
- 8:03 p.m.: Around 22,000 feet in altitude, the drogue parachutes will deploy, slowing and stabilizing the capsule as Orion nears splashdown.
- 8:04 p.m.: At around 6,000 feet, the drogues will release, and the three main parachutes will deploy, reducing Orion’s speed to less than 136 mph.
- 8:07 p.m.: Slowing to 20 mph, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, completing the Artemis II crew’s return to Earth and a 694,481-mile journey.
- From there, teams from NASA and the U.S. military will extract the crew from Orion and fly them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha.
- Within two hours after splashdown, the crew will be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS Murtha. Recovery teams will retrieve the crew, assist them onto an inflatable raft, and then use helicopters to deliver them to the ship. Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post‑mission medical evaluations before returning to shore where awaiting aircraft will take them to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Artemis II mission began with the successful liftoff of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending the first humans toward the Moon since 1972.
During the mission, the astronauts completed a historic lunar flyby, marking humanity’s return to the vicinity of the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Throughout the flight, the crew and teams on the ground have evaluated Orion’s systems in the deep‑space environment, including a series of tests in which astronauts directly operated and interacted with the spacecraft.
View the latest imagery from the Artemis II mission on our Artemis II Multimedia Resource Page. Please follow @NASAArtemis on X, Facebook, and Instagram for real-time updates. Live mission coverage is available on NASA’s YouTube channel.