
NASA Artemis 1 Landing Live Streaming: As the Artemis 1 mission’s Orion spacecraft continues on its way back to the Earth, NASA teams are preparing for its splashdown. Orion is scheduled to splash down near Guadalupe island in the Pacific Ocean at 12.40 PM ET (11.10 PM IST) on Sunday, December 11.
NASA will be livestreaming the splashdown of the Orion spacecraft starting at 9.30 PM IST on December 11. You can view the livestream through NASA’s app, NASA TV and the YouTube link below.
After its separation from the service module, Orion’s crew module will perform a “skip entry” technique designed to allow the spacecraft to accurately splash down at the landing site, a first for any human spacecraft. For this, Orion will first dip into the upper part of the atmosphere to use that atmosphere, along with the lift of the capsule, to “skip” out of the atmosphere. After this, it will reenter for final descent with parachutes.
According to NASA, this technique will allow for a safe reentry for future Artemis missions regardless of when and where they return from the Moon.
During reentry, our planet’s atmosphere will slow down the spacecraft to about 523 kilometres per hour. At an altitude of about 8 kilometres, parachute deployment will begin with three small parachutes pulling away the covers of the forward bay covers. After the cover separates, two drogue parachutes will be deployed. These will slow and stabilise the crew module.
At an altitude of about 2,800 metres, the spacecraft should be falling at a speed of about 210 kilometres per hour. At this point, three pilot parachutes will lift and deploy the main parachutes. These nylon parachutes have a diameter of around 35 metres and will slow Orion down to the speed of about 32 kilometres per hour for splashdown.