{"id":103545,"date":"2026-04-10T21:10:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/artemis-ii-live-artemis-ii-mission-splashes-down-after-history-making-moon-mission\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:10:50","slug":"artemis-ii-live-artemis-ii-mission-splashes-down-after-history-making-moon-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/artemis-ii-live-artemis-ii-mission-splashes-down-after-history-making-moon-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis II live: Artemis II mission splashes down after history-making moon mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Service module separates from Orion capsule<\/span>published at 00:36 BST 11 April<\/span><\/p>\n
The service module shown separating from the Orion capsule<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The service module has separated from the Orion capsule. This is the moment the crew are, in one practical sense, truly on their own.<\/p>\n
For the past 10 days, the cylindrical service module \u2014 built by the European Space Agency \u2014 has been the workhorse of the mission. <\/p>\n
Its engines performed the burns that sent Orion looping around the Moon. Its solar arrays generated the power that kept the crew alive. Its propulsion system nudged the vehicle onto a homeward trajectory across 230,000 miles of empty space. <\/p>\n
Now it has been jettisoned and will burn up in the atmosphere, its job complete. It will never be recovered.<\/p>\n
What remains is the crew module: the blunt-nosed cone in which Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen have eaten, slept, and marvelled for the past week and a half. It is roughly the size of a large car. It must now survive a plunge through the atmosphere at 24,661mph (39,688km\/h).<\/p>\n
The final trajectory correction burn is underway, locking the capsule into its precise angle of approach for re-entry into the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Nasa’s engineers have less than a degree of margin. Too shallow, and Orion skips off the atmosphere and cannot return. Too steep, and the heating is unsurvivable.<\/p>\n
The riskiest part is about to begin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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