NASA’s Artemis I Mission Splashes Down in Pacific Ocean

On Dec. 11, the Artemis I mission will conclude with the entry, descent, and splashdown of the Orion spacecraft. After 25.5 days in space, and a 1.3-million-mile (2.1-million-km) journey around the Moon, Orion is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 12:39 p.m. EST (17:39 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 11. The exploration ground systems recovery team from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, working with the U.S. Navy, will recover the spacecraft. Live coverage for this event begins at 11 a.m. EST (16:00 UTC). Orion launched aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 1:47 am EST (06:47 UTC) on Nov. 16 from historic Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Artemis I mission is the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, the SLS rocket, and Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Ground Systems. More: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i Credit: NASA