Artemis 1 Splashdown Live Highlights: Orion secured inside US navy ship

NASA's Artemis 1 Landing Live Updates: The Orion spacecraft has returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA, Artemis 1, Orion, landing, splashdown

NASA's Orion Capsule descends toward splash down after a successful uncrewed Artemis I Moon Mission on December 11, 2022 seen from aboard the U.S.S. Portland in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Mario Tama/Pool via REUTERS

NASA’s Artemis 1 Splashdown Today Live Updates: The Artemis 1 mission’s Orion spacecraft splashed down off the Baja coast near Guadalupe island in the Pacific Ocean at 11.10 PM IST on December 11. NASA launched the mission from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12.17 PM IST on November 16.

Ahead of the splashdown, Orion’s service module separated from its crew module. The service module burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere during reentry. The spacecraft then entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It performed a new “skip entry” technique designed to help the spacecraft accurately splash down at the landing site. According to NASA, this is the first time that a human-rated spacecraft is performing this reentry manoeuvre.

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

For its skip entry, Orion dipped into the upper part of the atmosphere and used friction and lift to “skip” out of the atmosphere. After skipping once, it entered the atmosphere once again for its final descent.

Orion entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of over 40,000 kilometres per hour. The atmosphere slowed the spacecraft to about 523 kilometres. At an altitude of about 8 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, the spacecraft began deploying its parachute before it splashed down in the ocean after completing a nearly 1.4 million-mile journey. Recovery teams have drawn the Orion spacecraft into the US Navy ship USS Portland and are currently transporting it to land. Orion is expected to arrive to shore on December 13, while it could be offloaded on December 15.