NASA’s Artemis 1 mission to land on Earth today: How to watch live

NASA's Artemis 1 mission's Orion spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11. Here is how you can watch the landing live and what you can expect from it.

By: Science Desk
New Delhi | Updated: December 11, 2022 10:39 PM IST

3 min read

NASA's Orion spacecraft captured this image of the Earth as a sliver on December 9. (Image credit: NASA)

The Artemis 1 mission’s Orion spacecraft is spending its last day in space as NASA teams are targeting a splashdown near Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean at 12.39 PM EST (11.09 PM IST)

How to watch Artemis 1 land

NASA will livestream the splashdown of the Orion spacecraft on its app, NASA TV and through the YouTube link below. The livestream will start at 9.30 PM IST on December 11. You can also follow our live updates of the Artemis 1 splashdown at this link.

Live updates |

Artemis 1 Splashdown Live Updates

Artemis 1’s last day in space

NASA engineers conducted the final in-space developmental flight test for the Artemis 1 mission on Saturday, December 10. During the test, they characterised the impact of high temperatures on solar array wings from plumes or exhaust gases. Flight controllers fired the spacecraft’s reaction control systems using opposite thrusters to balance torque.

The space agency also conducted the fifth return trajectory correction for the mission at 2.02 AM IST on Sunday, December 11. The sixth trajectory burn, which will be the last one for the mission, will happen approximately five hours before the spacecraft enters our planet’s atmosphere.

Ahead of reentry, Orion’s crew module will separate from the service module, which will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere during reentry. But just before the service module separates, the spacecraft’s communications will switch from NASA’s Deep Space Network to its Near Space Network. For the remainder of the mission, Orion’s communications will be facilitated by the space agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), which is located in geosynchronous orbit about 35,000 kilometres above our planet.

A recovery team, consisting of US Navy amphibious specialists, Space Force weather specialists and NASA technicians and engineers, have arrived near the location of the splash down. They are standing by to greet Orion after its reentry into the atmosphere at more than 40,000 kilometres per hour, when it will generate so much heat that the atmosphere near the spacecraft will briefly turn into plasma, disrupting communications.

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