Featured Image Credit: nasaartemis / Instagram
NASA's Artemis 2 mission is coming to a close today, and you'll be able to watch the Orion spacecraft splash down into the ocean live as it happens, returning the four astronauts on board to the safety of their homes.
It might feel like you only just watched the Artemis 2 mission start its historic flight around the Moon, yet later tonight it will be reaching its conclusion with the four NASA astronauts on board splashing down back on Earth.
They will first need to go through an incredibly dangerous period of around 14 minutes where the reentry procedure will torch the outside of the spacecraft with heat exceeding roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and once they're safely in the ocean a helicopter will take them to a nearby medical center for various health checks.
It might prove to be difficult for local residents in San Diego to see the splash down procedure in person due to the time it's scheduled to happen at, but everyone watching from home should be able to get a good view thanks to one major streaming platform.
Much like the launch and the historic lunar fly-by, anyone with an active Netflix subscription will be able to watch the splash down of Artemis 2 as it happens through the popular streaming service, with a live feed available from 6:30 p.m. EDT / 3:30 p.m. PDT.
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The Orion spacecraft is scheduled to complete its reentry procedure into Earth's atmosphere at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT / 5:07 p.m. PDT, although complications can obviously postpone this if NASA deems it to be necessary.
As mentioned, this will take place just off the coast of San Diego, with the astronauts then retrieved by US Navy divers and transported to the nearby USS John P. Murtha via helicoper. Afterwards, they will then be taken back to NASA's Johnson Space Center.
During the Netflix broadcast viewers will be able to hear from a number of key figures surrounding the splashdown procedure, including the crew surgeon, one of the US Navy divers tasked with retrieving the astronauts, and the captain of USS John P. Murtha.
They might have only been in the air for 10 days in total, but the Artemis 2 crew achieved far more than you might think and took one step further to returning humans to the Moon's surface.
Around halfway through the mission they broke the record for the longest distance traveled by a human, and also witnessed a number of firsts including seeing the dark side of the Moon and experiencing a solar eclipse from between the Earth and its nearest natural satellite.
They were also the first astronauts to take smartphones into space, capturing a number of already-iconic images with an iPhone 17 Pro, and they also shared a heartfelt tribute to Reid Wiseman's late wife by naming a crater on the Moon after her.
