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Four astronauts are back home after a daring ride around the Moon
arstechnica.
Four astronauts have safely returned home after a daring mission around the Moon. On Friday, NASA's Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, completed a high-speed plunge through Earth's atmosphere. It carried a crew of four back to the Pacific Ocean, successfully ending humanity's first crewed trip around the Moon in nearly 54 years.
The spacecraft entered the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, creating immense heat. Outside the capsule, temperatures rose to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat caused a sheath of glowing plasma to form around the spacecraft, which blocked radio signals with Mission Control in Houston for about six minutes. Traveling from southwest to northeast, Orion steered toward a planned splashdown zone near San Diego. A U.S. Navy recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha, waited there for the crew.
Ground teams re-established communication with the capsule's commander, Reid Wiseman, after the radio blackout ended. Airborne tracking planes captured live video of the descent. The footage showed the capsule releasing its parachute cover and deploying a series of parachutes to slow its fall. Three massive main parachutes, each covering an area of 10,500 square feet, opened to slow the spacecraft for a gentle splashdown. The event occurred at 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday.
In the final 14 minutes of flight, Orion slowed down by nearly 25,000 miles per hour. The crew experienced about 3.9 Gs of force, which is roughly four times Earth's gravity, during two brief periods. This force pressed them firmly into their seats as the spacecraft decelerated.
After splashdown, the recovery ship quickly sent out helicopters and small boats. Navy divers and other personnel moved to extract Commander Wiseman and his three crewmates: Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman radioed that all four crew members were in good health and high spirits, reporting "four green crew members" inside the spacecraft's cockpit.
Astronaut Christina Koch was the first to exit the capsule. She joined Navy divers on an inflatable raft, sometimes called the "front porch," attached to the spacecraft. Victor Glover exited next, followed by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Commander Wiseman, as the captain of the mission, was the last to leave his seat and join the recovery team. Two helicopters then hoisted the astronauts from the sea and flew them to the USS John P. Murtha. On the ship, they received initial medical checks. The plan was for them to travel to San Diego and then return to Houston on Saturday to reunite with their families.