After 10 days, over 800,000 km traveled, and a historic flyby of the Moon, Artemis II returned to Earth on Friday evening. Orion CM-003 Integrity, which served as the home for the mission’s four-person crew since April 1, reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean before ultimately splashing down off the coast of San Diego, California.
Integrity splashed down on Friday, April 10, at 5:07 PM PDT (00:07 UTC on Saturday, April 11). Entry interface, or the moment when Integrity entered Earth’s atmosphere, began 13 minutes before splashdown at 4:54 PM PDT (11:54 UTC). At that moment, Orion was traveling at a velocity of over 38,000 km per hour, marking the fastest atmospheric reentry performed by a crewed spacecraft since Apollo 17 in 1972.