NASA expressed \u201chigh confidence\u201d in the Artemis II<\/a> crew spacecraft\u2019s heat shield<\/a> ahead of Friday\u2019s historic return.<\/p>\n The shield is a critical part of the Orion<\/a> capsule, protecting the crew from exposure to lethal temperatures – reaching up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit – during their high-speed descent<\/a>, which is expected to last less than 15 seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 13 minutes of things that have to go right,\u201d Jeff Radigan, NASA\u2019s Artemis II flight director, said yesterday.<\/p>\n There were problems with the heat shield on the first Artemis flight, which had no human passengers. Gases that were generated inside the shield\u2019s outer material were not able to vent as expected, causing cracks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since then, the shield has undergone extensive testing and Amit Kshatriya, the space agency\u2019s associate administrator, says his confidence in the tech is backed up by engineering and flight data.<\/p>\n The astronauts, including NASA\u2019s Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and the Canadian Space Agency\u2019s Jeremy Hansen were said to be in \u201chigh spirits\u201d as they started their journey to Earth<\/a> following a record-breaking slingshot around the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a>Moon joy!<\/p>\n Ahead of their fiery finale, Nasa has shared a set of the best moments from the Artemis II mission.<\/p>\n A new video showing the crew of Artemis II experiencing \u2018moon joy\u2019 during their historic trip through space has been released by NASA as they return to earth. The astronauts, including NASA\u2019s Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and the Canadian Space Agency\u2019s Jeremy Hansen were said to be in \u201chigh spirits\u201d as they started their journey to Earth following a record-breaking slingshot around the Moon. To mark the unique trip, NASA has released a video compilation showing some of the highlights of the trip which has enthralled the globe.<\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 17:39<\/p>\n <\/a>Nasa shares precise timeline for re-entry<\/p>\n Here, from Nasa, is the rundown of the timings for the re-entry later. (They\u2019re in eastern time, so add five hours if you\u2019re watching from the UK.)<\/p>\n 7:33 p.m.: Orion\u2019s crew module will separate from the service module, exposing its heat shield for the spacecraft\u2019s return through Earth\u2019s atmosphere, where it will encounter temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 7:37 p.m.: Following separation, Orion will perform an 18 second crew module raise burn beginning to set the proper entry angle and align the heat shield for atmospheric interface. 7:53 p.m.: When Orion reaches 400,000 feet above Earth\u2019s surface while traveling nearly 35 times the speed of sound. The crew is expected to experience up to 3.9 Gs in the planned entry profile. This moment marks the spacecraft\u2019s first contact with the upper atmosphere and the start of a planned six-minute communications blackout as plasma builds around the capsule. 8:03 p.m.: Around 22,000 feet in altitude, the drogue parachutes will deploy, slowing and stabilizing the capsule as Orion nears splashdown. 8:04 p.m.: At around 6,000 feet, the drogues will release, and the three main parachutes will deploy, reducing Orion\u2019s speed to less than 136 mph. 8:07 p.m.: Slowing to 20 mph, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, completing the Artemis II crew\u2019s return to Earth and a 694,481-mile journey. From there, teams from NASA and the U.S. military will extract the crew from Orion and fly them via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha. Within two hours after splashdown, the crew will be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS Murtha. Recovery teams will retrieve the crew, assist them onto an inflatable raft, and then use helicopters to deliver them to the ship. Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post\u2011mission medical evaluations before returning to shore where awaiting aircraft will take them to NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. <\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 17:09<\/p>\n <\/a>Astronauts wake up to final tune on their last day in space<\/p>\n As with every morning \u2013\u00a0or at least the end of every sleep, since morning is perhaps something of a funny concept in space \u2013 the astronauts have been awoken with a tune from Nasa\u2019s official playlist.<\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 17:02<\/p>\n <\/a>Astronauts will endure 3000C heat on journey back to Earth<\/p>\n Here, experts lay out just how intense and extreme the Artemis II crew\u2019s re-entry will be.<\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 14:48<\/p>\n <\/a>When and where will astronauts splash down?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a full preview of the main event of today \u2013\u00a0the astronauts\u2019 re-entry and splash down.<\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 14:47<\/p>\n <\/a>Astronaut explains how re-entry is like ‘jumping through a ring of fire’<\/p>\n Coming back down is hot. And astronauts are essentially racing that process. Here, Chris Hadfield \u2013 a Canadian astronaut who has flown a number of space missions \u2013\u00a0explains how that feels on the inside.<\/p>\n Andrew Griffin10 April 2026 14:38<\/p>\n <\/a>What will be the most dangerous moment of Artemis II’s return to Earth?<\/p>\n As the Artemis astronauts make their way back to earth, a planetary entry experts says this critical phase of the journey will be one of the most dangerous. <\/p>\n Dr Chris James, who specialises in hypersonic aerothermodynamics at the University of Queensland, said: \u201cThe most dangerous moment will be the high-speed, hypersonic re-entry that occurs as the craft is travelling through the upper atmosphere. This is the riskiest point for several reasons. <\/p>\n \u201cFirstly, it\u2019s when the heating and the forces hitting the craft itself are at their maximum, due to aerodynamic drag slowing the craft from hypersonic speeds of around 11 km per second (greater than Mach 30!).<\/p>\n \u201cSecondly, this is also a scary moment because the gas surrounding the craft is heated up so much that it becomes an electrically conductive plasma \u2013 which blocks communication between the spacecraft and the outside world. This means the astronauts are unable to talk to anybody back on Earth for that short period of time.\u201d <\/p>\n When the astronauts first reach earth\u2019s atmosphere, they will be experiencing fairly high g-forces, and get \u201cthe hell shaken out of them\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n He believes one of the scariest parts will be the communications blackout blocking radio communications, which means they will be completely alone during the harshest parts of the trajectory.<\/p>\n Harriette Boucher10 April 2026 14:11<\/p>\n <\/a>Why did NASA send ‘organ chips’ of the Artemis astronauts into space?<\/p>\n Along with four astronauts, NASA also sent chips of bone marrow grown from the crew\u2019s own cells to space. <\/p>\n Researchers put the USB-sized \u201corgan chips\u201d aboard the Orion spacecraft, as part of a science experiment they hope will help reveal how different space stressors affect tissue before sending the first humans to mars.<\/p>\n The investigation will use the devices to study the effects of increased radiation and microgravity on human health.<\/p>\n Lisa Carnell, from NASA\u2019s biological and physical sciences division, said: \u201cFor NASA, organ chips could provide vital data for protecting astronaut health on deep space missions.\u201d<\/p>\n The chips, which were developed at Harvard, contain tiny channels lined with living cells that replicate the function of human bone marrow.<\/p>\n A matching set of these chips has stayed on Earth to give researchers a controlled comparison.<\/p>\n Harriette Boucher10 April 2026 13:41<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775841911_147_poster.jpg\")
Moon joy! Nasa releases best moments from Artemis II\u2019s trip<\/a><\/p>\n
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(AP)<\/p>\n