Orion's Moon Loop: Splashdown Tonight

0:00NASA's Artemis 2nd mission is wrapping up after a groundbreaking 10-day loop around the moon with the Orion capsule set to splash down in the bissly. Pacific Ocean of San Diego tonight, around 8.07 pm, Eastern time. The crew, Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, launched April 1st at 6. 35 pm from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This flight pushed boundaries, flying farther than Apollo 13 ever did, and marking the first time humans gazed at the lunar surface from four. Thousand miles up, plus the first pass over the moon's far side, during a seven-hour flyby. Astronauts and teens back home are buzzing with pride, as this test run pays the way for future moon landings and deeper space exploration. Proving, the Orion spacecraft can handle the long haul of nearly 700,000 miles. Earlier today in a press briefing, NASA laid out the reentry steps, around 7.37 pm.

1:00A quid burn sets the angle for atmospheric. Entry, by 753 pm, they're hitting peak heat at 400,000 feet, with up to 3.9 Gs and a 6-minute blackout. Then parachutes deploy from 803 pm onward, slowing to 20 miles per hour for splashdown. Recovery teens from NASA and the military will swoop in fast, pulling the crew onto rafts, helicoptering them to the USS John P. Murtha for checkups. Then, flying everyone back to Houston. Another smooth step toward getting humans back on the lunar surface for good. That's the story for today. Tampa Bay News today, driven by AI. I'm Cory with the story.