Artemis I On Its Way Back Home

Artemis I is NASA’s ongoing, uncrewed test mission to the moon and back. Find out what the mission has accomplished so far, and about the plans for slashdown this Sunday, December 11.

Growing up during the Space Race, there was a final ritual to which we all looked forward. After an American space capsule carrying astronauts re-entered the atmosphere, it deployed its parachutes and landed in the Pacific Ocean.

An aircraft carrier would be waiting nearby, and helicopters would hover over the floating capsule to lift the astronauts from the ocean. Then, they’d ferry the astronauts back to the ship for the trip home.

Back in those days, when scientists weren’t sure if there was life on the moon, the astronauts would be quarantined for 21 days after a moon mission. They lived in a mobile quarantine facility which NASA could fly back to Houston for most of the lock-down.

Re-Entry At Least As Dangerous as Lift-Off

Although it was less spectacular than lift-off, re-entry was at least as dangerous. The capsule returned to Earth without power, and it had to enter the atmosphere at precisely the correct angle to avoid bouncing back into space forever.