The Artemis-2 mission is a test mission of the Orion Space Capsule.
Artemis 2 will be the first time we put humans on this rocket.
We're going back to the moon because it's the next step in our journey to Mars.
We were always going to the moon.
Pushing ourselves to explore is just a part of who we are. It's a part of being a human.
And lift off!
We shall return.
Continuing to test out every bit of Orion.
Coming back to Earth, 7 miles per second.
Humanity sets big goals.
We can bring together genius from around the world.
You have the best people on planet Earth putting this vehicle together.
To innovate for the benefit of humanity and to inspire the world to discover.
And here we go.
19th, 1972, 225 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The Command Module America splashes down in the Pacific with Gene Cernan, Ron Evans and
Jack Schmidderboard as the Apollo 17 mission came to an end along with humanity's first
series of expeditions to the Moon.
Today at this hour, you are looking live at our planet
from the integrity spacecraft heading for a splashdown
in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego,
just one hour and 35 minutes from now,
and good day from the Artemis Flight Control Room here
at the Johnson Space Center in Houston,
where the entry flight control team is on duty at this hour,
led by flight director Rick Henfling,
joined on console with a voice you'll hear talking
to the crew throughout the course of the day.
That is Jackie Mahaffey, second from your left.
Everything has gone extremely well as we are closing in
on the return of Artemis' astronauts
from their flight around the moon
and historic lunar flyby that will culminate
with that splash down in the Pacific
off the coast of San Diego,
just one hour and 35 minutes from now.
And with that, that's a good entry pad
and we can continue in the procedure.
Integrity.
You're looking at a live view inside Integrity, Reed Wiseman on the left doing a fist bump
with pilot Victor Glover on the right and down in the mid-deck area just below their feed,
suited up in their launch and entry suits are mission specialists Christina Cook
and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.
A number of milestones yet to unfold before splashdown just over an hour and a half
from now. Earlier today the crew woke up at about 10.35 a.m. central time. They completed the final
major maneuver of the flight, that being the return trajectory correction three burn. It was an
eight second burn that fine-tuned its trajectory to enter a corridor over the Pacific Ocean a
short time from now. That will be the point of entry interface where the crew will reach the
the first traces of Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet.
The crew moved into its entry checklist just after 4 p.m. central time,
suited up in those launch and entry suits, conducted leak checks,
and now are in the final stages of their entry checklist.
Instruction 115 of entry checklist, that's on separation ATP is go.
You've been copies.
The next major milestone on the route home.
They're fully zipped and they're working on EBS and then speeding up.
We copy, thanks for the status.
Jackie Mahaffey talking to Reed Wiseman aboard integrity.
The spacecraft now about 12,000 nautical miles from the Earth's surface.
The next major milestone on tap for the crew will be the crew, the handover
of communications from the deep space network to the tracking
and data relay satellite system, the deep space network came
into play after the trans-lunar injection burn back
on April 2nd that propelled integrity toward its lunar flyby
will be back on the TDRS network here in about 41 minutes.
Following that, the next activity will be the pyrotechnic
separation of the crew module
from the European service module that is scheduled
at 633 p.m. central time followed four minutes later
by one final critical maneuver that will be a 19 second burn
of integrity's thrusters
in what is called the crew module raise burn.
Now what that does is it basically acts if you were sitting
in a reclining chair you'd basically tilt yourself back.
It raises the aft end of integrity ever so slightly
and that is the final opportunity for us to fine tune the angle
of attack of integrity through the area of peak heating
and entry interface that will come a bit later
on about an hour and 18 minutes from now.
So after the raise burn, we will be in the final orientation
that will minimize any peak heating on the heat shield
of integrity and prior to the time the crew enters
the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet.
Entry interface, this is the critical time
where the crew will reach the first traces
of Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet,
traveling 34,882 feet per second.
Just 24 seconds after entering the Earth's atmosphere,
we will experience a communications blackout
expected to last six minutes in duration.
This is planned and it is caused by the interaction
of the velocity of integrity with the friction
of Earth's atmosphere.
There will be a buildup of plasma around the vehicle
and that ionization will prevent any communications
with the crew and any receipt of data
by flight controllers here in mission control.
That blackout is scheduled to begin at 6.53
and 54 seconds p.m. central time.
Again, a six minute blackout that will end
if all goes as planned at 6.59
and 55 seconds p.m. central time.
At that point, we expect to regain communications with the crew and a reacquisition of data
through the tracking and data relay satellite system.
We will have a series of roll maneuvers.
These are computer commanded that will roll the vehicle slightly to the left, then back
to the right that will bleed off excess energy as we begin our peak period of velocity.
We expect to reach a maximum velocity of 24,661.21 miles per hour equivalent to about Mach 33,
33 times the speed of sound shortly after we enter that blackout period.
Once we exit the blackout period, of course, we're in the denser regions of the Earth's
atmosphere and then we get set up for the parachute deployment sequence.
First, the deployment of three forward bay cover shoots that will pull essentially
the top forward bay cover off the very top of the integrity vehicle that will be followed
by the deployment of drug suits and then the final deployment of a series of three main
parachutes at 7.04 and 44 seconds p.m. central time.
From that point on, it is about three minutes or so until splashdown, splashdown scheduled
at 7, 07, and 8 seconds PM central time at the gentle speed
of 19 miles an hour.
So just to give you some perspective, at the time
that we enter the Earth's atmosphere,
we're traveling somewhere around Mach 32.
We will splash down at a speed of about 19 miles an hour.
The G-forces that we'll build
on the crew members inside the integrity will build
to about 3.9 Gs, that is what is expected and what they have trained for
and what the spacecraft is designed to support.
The latest weather forecast out on the recovery zone off the coast of San Diego is a go forecast
from our meteorologists here at the Space Flight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space
Center. And standing by on the deck of the USS John Murtha is my colleague from the
Kennedy Space Center, Megan Cruz. Megan?
Welcome to the bow of the USS John Murtha.
This is where we will report out live updates from the ship as NASA and the U.S. military
work to recover our Artemis-2 astronauts in just about an hour and a half.
How exciting.
Now right now as you can see we are out in the Pacific Ocean.
We are just west of San Diego.
actually staged about six and a half miles away from where we expect Orion to
splash down and then we will incrementally move closer so at the time of
splashdown will be about five miles away and then we will move to 3.2 miles
away at that point we'll pause make sure that all the debris that might be
coming down with Orion because basically some parts of like the
parachute system they're jettisoned off Orion during descent so we'll
just want to make sure that those all land in the water and that we are
safe to move even closer. So we will make sure that we can move a little closer and at that
point we will move to a mile away from Orion. And at that point the ship will circle the capsule
while NASA and Navy recovery forces work to get our astronauts out and we should have great views
of the bow from here. But also we have a ton of cameras all around the ship. For example,
we actually have some cameras right to the left of me here on the bow. These are very strong,
stabilized cameras. We can really get up close to make sure that we are sharing all the images we
have available to you. We also will have some views from above. We actually have five planes
providing live views of splashdown today. In fact some of those aerial assets just took off
from San Diego minutes ago. And then actually here on the flight deck you see four helicopters,
the two in the back. Those will take off in about 30 minutes from now also with live
cameras so again lots and lots of imagery that we hope to share with you today. And then those
two helos in the front those two will pluck the crew out of the water and fly them back to our
ship. Now the combined team here on the ship more than 550 people left San Diego four days ago
and since then I've watched different teams train every day, train, rehearse, final prep
so make sure that they're ready for today so to give us more of an update about how recovery
is going on right now. Why don't we turn over to Paul here? Paul Serpinski. He is the Assistant
Artemis Recovery Director. Great to have you here, Paul. Great to be here. Thanks. Absolutely.
So you just left the landing forces operation center here on the ship. How are we looking for
recovery? Right now it's looking great. When I left they were just about to get into
weather briefing with the Michigan Central Center in Houston, but listening to the loops this
morning and everything that's been going on. The reentry trajectory correction burn,
Sorry, the return trajectory correction burn went great.
They were right down the money, right on the money,
right down the middle, where there should be coming back.
Our forces here, our teams out in the water,
our boats are launched or will be eminently.
So yeah, it's just coming along great.
Yeah, yeah.
It's really nice to see we did see some of those boats
float behind us.
We were hoping to give you a live view,
but of course they floated right out of the camera shot
as you came to us.
But so basically the team right now here on the ship,
basically like monitoring mode,
but really things will pick up
about 15 minutes after splashdown.
Yeah, so a couple minutes before splashdown,
things start happening really, really fast.
Some events during the re-entry,
there may be a second or two apart
and so it just takes a whole lot of effort
and a lot of updates back and forth between us and Houston
to keep track of everything that's happening
all in real time.
And then after splashdown,
that's when the recovery team really kicks into high gear.
We have our boat crews going out, our divers, doing hazardous assessments as they get progressively
closer to the capsule, making sure it's safe for all of our people to go in.
And it's also safe for the astronauts to come out, because really at the end of the day,
that's what we're here for.
We're going to make sure that the astronauts get home safe after their tremendous journey
to the moon and back.
But then also we have, like you mentioned a minute ago, all of our imagery helicopters
are taking imagery, camera shots of it as it's coming in all the way through
and it's flashed down. I think they'll see it as soon as across the horizon,
all the way to the ocean here. And then afterwards we have to recover
actually Orion to bring it into the wild deck of the ship?
Absolutely, yeah. And so once the astronauts are safe on board, then
those same dive teams are going to transition into securing the capsule.
They'll position some equipment around it to kind of facilitate that.
The ship will move into position, we'll attach a really big winch line to it and then a bunch of tending lines.
We'll pull the capsule around behind the ship and then start to slowly bring it in.
And then, yeah, Orion comes in, goes hard down and everyone cheers.
Yeah, great day, exactly. Lots to coordinate, a lot to manage.
Basically planning for this recovery, Artemis II Recovery started a month after Artemis I launched.
That was the uncrewed test flight of the Space Launch System rocket as well as the Orion spacecraft.
That was November 2022, a month later, all the planning for this.
How does it feel to be so close to welcoming our friends or astronauts home?
For the whole team, I walked around the ship this morning just kind of visiting with
a lot of people, a lot of groups, and just kind of get the feel of them.
And everyone has that same kind of mentality.
Everyone's excited.
Everyone's thrilled to see all that work that we've been doing.
Like you said, for the last three years, since right after the last one came
back until now.
Some people even further back, some of them go back a decade or more.
So everyone is just excited and they're ready.
They're really ready for this.
And just to be able to see our crew come back, that's going to be a thrill for everyone.
How are you feeling?
Are you ready?
Is this something you ever thought you'd be doing?
I'm ready.
I'm excited.
This has been the pinnacle of my career so far.
It really has.
I've seen a lot of firsts, a lot of lasts.
But I can't think of ever topping seeing the first crew to go
to the moon and back in 50 years and to be here
and be a part of that.
And it's just a tremendous privilege.
And I'm on behalf of the whole team,
I'm thrilled and so are all of us.
We're ready.
Yeah, I definitely think that those words really embody
how everybody on the ship is feeling.
So thank you so much, Paul.
I appreciate you being here.
And so, Rob, we'll toss it back to you again.
We will continue to join you with live updates
from the ship as much as possible.
Thank you, Megan.
Back here at the Johnson Space Center, the entry team
of flight controllers looking over the shoulders of Reed Wiseman
and Victor Glover there on the flight deck of Integrity.
And again, just below their feet in the mid-deck area,
if you will, Christina Cook and Jeremy Hansen
of the Canadian Space Agency.
They're in the final review of their entry procedures and all
of the activities that we'll follow here very shortly
in trip hammer fashion.
We should note that after splashdown occurs the flight control team here
in Houston will be monitoring the orientation of the integrity spacecraft.
We are expecting it to splashdown upright in what is called the stable one configuration
with the top of the spacecraft pointed upward.
Stable two would indicate that it is upside down in the water.
Regardless of the orientation, there will be five inflatable airbags called the CMOS system.
That's the acronym for Crew Module Uprighting System.
Here we are, suit dot complete.
Houston copies.
Reed Weiss been acknowledging that the final steps in suit downing are now complete for the crew.
Leak checks have been completed earlier.
The CMOS system, those five inflatable airbags,
will be inflated with helium.
Those airbags will ensure that the vehicle remains upright.
While that activity is going on, the flight control team here
will be checking the systems on integrity, also making sure
that there's no leakage of toxic gas from the spacecraft.
It should take about 15 minutes from splash down
to the power down of all of the systems on integrity.
And at that point, assuming everything is in a nominal fashion,
then the green light will be given for the Navy recovery teams
to begin to make their way closer to integrity to begin the erection
of a large inflatable life raft called a front porch
that will be buttressed up alongside the hatch way to the spacecraft.
That life raft will be used to bring the crew members
out of this vehicle once the hatch is open.
One by one, they'll get their land legs back after nine days of weightlessness before they are put
in harnesses to be hoisted one by one in sequential fashion
and in alternating fashion so the two hovering Navy helicopters overhead.
Use an integrity for a status.
Go ahead.
Seat 3 and 4 are connecting on vehicles.
We're going to be stepping into leak check soon.
One and two will be seated, three and four will be free float
and we'll configure E-PROC accordingly.
Do you think copy's all?
Reed Wiseman, talking about the current procedures
with the suiting of the crew members
and subsequent leak checks, a final leak check
for all four crew members.
Everything is actually running a few minutes ahead of schedule.
So once the life raft is inflated,
next to the integrity spacecraft.
And the recovery teams have arrived alongside of the vehicle.
The hatch will be open and the crew members will be brought outside
into that front porch as it is called one by one.
They then will be hoisted into the hovering helos overhead.
And those helos then will turn around once the four crew members are on board,
two for each helicopter, and will head back to the ship.
That should be about a 10 to 15 minute transit.
Once the helicopters land on the deck of the USS John Murtha,
the crew members will be exiting those helicopters
and brought into medical bay on the deck,
on the ship itself for comprehensive medical exams.
They will spend a period of time yet to be determined
on board the USS John Murtha before they are flown
by helicopter to the shore in San Diego
to the San Diego Naval Air Station, and ultimately,
we'll board a NASA jet for the flight back
to the Johnson Space Center here in Houston.
Just to recap some of the key times that are coming up,
we are expecting the separation of the crew module
from the service module just 43 minutes from now.
That is expected to occur at 633 p.m. central time,
733 p.m. eastern time.
That will be followed just four minutes later
by the crew module raise burn, the use of integrity thrusters one final time
in a 19 second burn to slightly tilt the vehicle up into the correct orientation or angle
of attack to ensure that it enters the Earth's atmosphere at the right angle if you will.
That will help deflect the buildup of heat against integrity's heat shield.
This was a deliberate move, a change in the procedures
from the Artemis-1 mission that resulted in unexpected Char loss
on the Avco heat shield that had not been intended based
on the entry trajectory for the Artemis-1 mission.
What we're doing is we deliberately changed the
trajectory of the entry from a skip entry
that was about a 3,000 mile transit across the Pacific Ocean.
We are expecting now from entry interface to the point of splashdown to have a range
of just 1,701 nautical miles and that in of itself will reduce the exposure time
of heating on the heat shield of the spacecraft.
Once the raise burn is complete, then the stage is set for entry interface
at 6.53 and 31 seconds PM central time.
That means that integrity will be entering the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet,
traveling at about 34,882 feet per second, heading for its splashdown site off the coast
of San Diego, as you just heard from Megan Cruz on the deck of the USS John Murtha.
Splashdown once again under those three main parachutes is expected
at 7.07 and 8 seconds PM central time, 5.07 PM Pacific time,
two and a half hours before sunset.
The actual total distance traveled for integrity
from launch to splashdown is estimated
at 694,481 statute miles.
Now that includes the first high elliptical earth orbit
following launch that enabled integrity to move
to 43,000 miles above the Earth at its apogee and enabling a 24-hour period of systems checkouts
before the flight control team here and the mission management team gave approval for
integrity to conduct its trans-lunar injection that propelled it on its way to the moon
and its historic lunar flyby.
So the total distance we expect this vehicle to have traveled at Splashdown 694,481
statute miles.
With everything proceeding on track and on time, aboard integrity, the vehicle systems
in excellent shape as the earth grows larger in the field of view, let's go back to the
USS John Murtha and Megan Cruz who is standing by.
Hey, everyone, welcome back.
Again, we are out in the Pacific Ocean,
staged just about six and a half miles
from where we expect Orion to splash down now
in just over an hour.
How exciting and the weather.
Awesome conditions here.
I know you see some wind around, blown around my hair,
but really nothing to speak of
when it comes to having to recover our astronauts
as well as no waves here really.
So yeah, we're expecting a really great day.
Also hopefully some really great views you can see behind me
that some of the clouds are starting to break up.
So that's really exciting.
And now of course the ship has a lot of people ready
and excited to welcome our crew back home
including Dr. Rick Schuring here.
He is a NASA flight surgeon.
Great to have you here, right?
You too, Megan.
It is a blessing to be out here this day with our teams.
We've trained three years for this.
nonstop with the US Navy and along with EGS and we so look forward to this day and
you know just by God's grace everything's parting the skies and everything
the crews doing great looking forward to come back and our teams are ready so
this is one of those days you've dreamt about and now it's finally here and
we're ready and just thankful to be a part of it. Yeah and you play a really
integral role. When was the last time you spoke to the crew and how are
they feeling in this last hour before it's washed out? Sure yeah so the
When they splash down, they will have woken up about eight and a half hours ago.
Me and my fellow crew surgeons, doctors Chris Haas and Rafi Khumjian from the Canadian Space
Agency, spoke with them about six and a half hours ago just to double check on how they're
doing, if there's any medical issues, how they slept, and then kind of go over their
landing day protocol for their medications, for what we call a fluid load to try to
replace some of the fluid and electrolytes that they've lost with just a normal space
adaptation once they got to space they kind of have to re-replace some of that fluid to help them
with the whole landing kind of re-aptation to 1g which they haven't done for the last 10 days
and then just kind of let them know how things are going to play out you know out with the open
water teams all the way until we finally get to the med deck so they were very pumped up very
hurryed though they had a lot of cabin configuration a lot of things to get ready
so they're excited they're also very focused on the job that they had to do so
So, like again, we've trained a long time for this
and we're ready.
And you said some medications.
I mean, those are kind of just to mitigate the effects
of obviously, they're more than 695,000
mile journey back to Earth.
It's just like anti-nausea medication, right?
Yeah, exactly Megan.
The astronauts are very healthy, fortunately.
And even when they come back in reentry,
you know, the human system is very kind of dynamic.
It has to re-adapt very quickly.
and one of the most common responses they get is just
some stomach awareness to some nausea, even to some vomiting.
And with our crews that land out in Carolina,
the Soyuz crews or our SpaceX crews,
they all kind of experience the same thing.
This will be the first time we're landing in water
since December of 1972.
And I worked for the Apollo astronauts years ago
and they all told me that landing in the water,
especially in the Pacific, can be very provocative.
So we take steps to give them medicines
to really mitigate some of that nausea, vomiting,
help them feel a little better,
and also sometimes just use
a little anti-inflammatory medicine
just to help with coming back to one earth, or 1G.
The effects of microgravity,
especially as you age and you have a little arthritis,
you feel great microgravity,
and everyone kind of curses coming back to the ground,
like, oh dang, 1G, but so that helps a little bit.
But for the most part,
the main thing is just replacing that fluid
and then trying to help them
with that transition back to 1G,
and then we're ready to go.
Yeah, and their health is assessed almost immediately after they splash down.
Yeah, so we have Dr. Jesse Wang and we have our independent duty corpsman,
who are the Navy version of paramedics, extremely highly trained, highly experienced
Navy medics and divers who will go out there, open the caps,
so about 25, 28 minutes after splash down and do the first initial assessment.
So Jesse and his team will go out there and look at each crew,
kind of do their assessments, get vital signs, report back to Drs.
and Kunji and I and back in Med Bay, let them know how they're doing and then you know if they've
got the normal kind of space adaptation kind of things we expect that they're good to go on that.
If anything you know didn't go the way you want they're all prepared for that as well
and Jesse and his team I mean you know this is their full-time job taking care of you know
sailors and folks who might be injured. We don't expect any injuries but coming back
you know going 25,000 miles an hour down to you know 20 you know miles an hour
It's still a dynamic process.
I've heard it described as kind of like a car crash.
And then the crew will be ready to go, ingesting his team,
will make that transition to get them out to the front porch,
do assessments on them again, call it to our med bay.
And then once we have that, and they're all good to go,
and the crew is feeling OK, we'll
hoist them up in the helos.
It's about a three minute flight back to the flight deck,
and that's where me and the astronaut Chief Scott Tingle
will actually meet them.
I'll get eyes on them, make sure they're all good,
just take very slow transitions and then one by one we'll either get them out
with the SMTs, the SAR med techs under each arm just you know kind of just
walking very slowly to med bay which actually helps them acclimate back to
1g or if they really don't have their sea legs back yet then we might put in
what we call a stair chair which will be right behind them and then just
very slowly kind of get them back into med bay to start our full
assessments for the team. Yeah so a really great team here to support them
as soon as they get back and also all throughout the mission, of course.
You talked a little bit about this, but obviously, you know, we have seen astronauts return from
the International Space Station for over 25 years.
So we kind of know that journey, how it affects the body.
But yes, we're talking about humans returning from the moon for the first time since
1972.
How is this different from your perspective?
So it's different in one very significant respect with on Apollo for exercise, they
They had something called the Apollo Xergenium, which was basically just a little canister
with some ropes, and they would have some resistance and kind of do that.
And the Apollo astronauts really liked that.
They liked the ability to exercise, because you decondition from a musculoskeletal standpoint,
you lose your strength and you stand up very quickly.
We had something called the Orion Flywheel, which was able to impart much greater loads
in terms of resistance, so they're able to do squats, deadlifts, different things,
not dissimilar to what the ISS astronauts do, but with a lot less room to do it.
And they also did rolling activities for cardiovascular health.
And the crews loved it.
But for the lunar crews, the future lunar crews, maintaining that physical conditioning,
which are astronaut strength conditioning rehabilitation specialists, effectively known as the Acer's,
back in Houston, really work hard to get them in the best shape they're going to,
you know, have to be in to get to the moon.
That device hopefully will maintain that.
And Apollo only had about a 4.3 day journey to the moon.
Our astronauts are going to have about a 10 to 14 day journey.
So maintaining that physical fitness,
that strength and stamina is going to be crucial
for the success of being able to do those very
physically demanding lunar EVAs.
So we're very excited about what the astronauts have said
about the device and what they have to say
about the role exercise plays, you know,
going to the moon and also the mental benefit.
They just really like sweating, breaking the sweat
and actually just feeling like, you know,
they're just getting a workout, so.
Thank you so much, Rick.
I really appreciate it.
I know they're going to be in good hands,
so we'll let you get back to it.
Thank you so much.
the time. Back to you, Rob. Okay, Megan, back here in Mission Control in Houston.
Everything is moving along in order. This view of Reed Wiseman on the left,
Victor Glover on the right. We have good suit leak checks. Everything aboard
integrity is in excellent shape. The vehicle with the earth growing larger
and larger in the field of view, we're now just about 8,200 nautical miles
away from Earth and closing in for a splashdown just one hour and five minutes from now.
Integrity, just under a minute till your GPS maneuver initiates and both GPS units look eager to acquire.
Outstanding, seats 3 and 4 are working on seat strap in now.
He's in copies.
Once again, as we start to close in on some
of the major milestones of the first one coming
up in just 31 minutes.
And integrity, just confirming the LCG gas trap was able
to be closed out.
A-permative.
Crew module, service module, separation schedule just 31 minutes from now.
The key point of interest of course will be the performance of Integrity's heat shield during its high-speed entry back into Earth
of the peak heating that is expected around the spacecraft of some 4,000 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
On Artemis 1, as I think most folks know by now, we flew a trajectory known as a skip
entry in which we performed an initial dip into the atmosphere to bleed off some energy.
Then we skipped out of the atmosphere and dipped back into the atmosphere before splashing
down to the Pacific.
But after the mission was over with, we noticed unexpected liberation of some of the charring
effects on the heat shield known as Avcoat.
Before the flight, we had an opportunity to sit down and talk with entry flight director
Rick Henfling to get a perspective on what this all means and how the mission was redesigned
to try to protect Integrity's heat shield to a higher extent.
Let's take a look at that interview.
Returning from the Moon is a lot different than deorbitating from low Earth orbit.
When we return from the Moon, we expect to achieve velocities upwards of 36,000
feet per second.
And in order to slow down to a nice graceful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the flight
crew is going to experience between three and four times the force of Earth's gravity.
On Artemis-1, pressure buildup inside the char layer of the heat shield resulted in
the char losses we saw.
NASA established a Tiger team whose job was to investigate the cause of the problem
and then make recommendations on how to fly the Artemis-2 mission safely and successfully.
And so for Artemis-2, we are going to fly a profile that ensures the spacecraft will
not see that same type of pressure profile.
And so the Char loss is seen on Artemis-2 will not be like the ones that we saw on Artemis-1.
Rick Henfling indicated that the orientation of the spacecraft and the shortening of
the distance of transit to the splashdown zone from the point of entry interface when
we reach the top of the Earth's atmosphere, which will be coming up at 6.53 and 30 seconds
p.m. central time should do the trick in minimizing the deleterious forces against that heat shield
that we're noticed on the Artemis-1 mission.
And we think we see a beautiful sunrise over the west coast of Australia.
We copy.
Commander Reid Wiseman reveling in his final hour in space on this mission as integrity is passing
over the southwest coast of Australia now at an altitude of some 7,600 nautical miles.
That will begin the southwest and northeast, or we'll transit across the Pacific Ocean.
Let's talk a little bit more about some of the highlights and some
of the numbers associated with the points of interest here.
We are 27 and a half minutes away
from crew module, service module separation.
That will be followed about three and a half minutes later
by the raised burn that we've discussed, a 19 second burn
of integrity thrusters to fine tune its angle of attack
as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Entry interface is scheduled 47 and a half minutes from now.
That's the point at which we will reach the top
of the Earth's atmosphere traveling about 34,882 feet per second at an altitude of 400,000 feet.
Just 24 seconds after entry interface, we will begin a blackout period of six minutes
in duration at 6.53 and 54 seconds p.m. central time. Now, right about 10 seconds after the
Blackout period begins. We are expected to reach peak speed, which would be 24,661 miles
an hour. That will be about 103 miles an hour short of the velocity record set by the Apollo
10 astronauts, Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan and John Young, when they return from the
moon on the Apollo 10 mission in 1969. That blackout period is expected to last six minutes
in duration. At 6.54 and 52 seconds PM central time we'll reach our peak heating period of
about 4 to 5,000 degrees while we're in a communications blackout from integrity in
astronauts that blackout should end at 59 and 55 seconds p.m. central time at
which point we expect to regain communications with the crew Capcom
Jackie Mahaffey here in the flight control room will be talking to the
crew calling them and will await a response from the crew as they come out
of that blackout period and at that point their altitude will be just 157
thousand feet above the earth, traveling at 13,000 feet per second with a range to splash
down of just 147 nautical miles.
From that point on, the next key series of events will be the deployment of a series
of parachutes that we discussed before.
First the forward bay cover chute deploy that will pull the forward bay cover away
from the top of integrity, followed by a drogue-shoot deploy and then the main-shoot
deploy that's expected at 7.04 and 44 seconds p.m. central time, that will begin the gentle
descent of integrity towards its splashdown at just a velocity of just 19 miles an hour.
And that will begin the recovery operations that you just heard Megan Cruz discuss
with her folks on the USS John Murtha.
All of integrity systems in great shape.
The crew is suited up.
Leak checks complete as we stand by for the next major milestone,
which will be the crew module, service module separation,
just 24 and a half minutes from now.
All of the activities from the start of entry interface to the point of splashdown will be
quite rapid fire, just 13 and a half minutes from the point at which we begin descent into
the Earth's atmosphere till splashdown.
And just to show you, as Rick Shearing, the flight surgeon, alluded to in his interview
with Megan Cruz, all of this happens
to decelerate the vehicle from traveling around Mach 33
to just 19 miles an hour at Splashdown.
All of that happening in just 13 and a half minutes.
But the vehicle and the parachutes are all designed
to support all of that.
So we'll be standing by to report all that to you
in sequential fashion as these milestones are ticked off
And as we hear from the crew during its entry back
into the Earth's atmosphere, and ultimately when they emerge
from the blackout period, and at that point,
will be just minutes away from splashdown.
So with all of those preparations ongoing,
we can return here briefly for another report
from the USS John P. Murtha and Megan Cruz.
Megan.
And we'll regain that communication
with the USS John P. Murthad just momentarily.
In the meantime, everything is on track of board integrity,
the flight control team here in Houston led
by entry flight director Rick Henfling.
The voice you will hear talking to the crew is that of Jackie Mahaffey.
She will be reporting everything to the crew and receiving their reports
as they enter the Earth's atmosphere for their 13 and a half minute plunge back
into the atmosphere for splashdown off the coast of San Diego.
Now we have the ship back with us and Megan Cruz aboard the USS John P. Murtha.
Megan?
11, right?
Okay, Rob, yeah, the excitement is really building here on the ship.
I'm watching right now one of the weather balloons being lofted up from the ship.
Again, weather balloons very important for us to make sure that we are tracking the
right kind of weather and also the data that's needed for what's called our SAS
squatch team again it's a team out of NASA that basically make sure that the
debris that comes off the Orion against some of those pieces of the parachute
system make sure that they don't fall on us here in the sea and also our aerial
assets our folks in helicopters so watching that float away right now but
with me right now is Captain Eric Kenny he's the commanding officer of the
John P. Murtha Naval ship thank you so much for being here there are so
many moving parts that you have to keep an eye on.
That's absolutely right, yeah.
But first of all, on behalf of the crew of the USS Jumping
Mertha, Megan, thanks for having me on today.
Happy to tell you what we're doing,
and excited to get the interview started.
Yeah, absolutely.
Why don't we actually take a look at the flight deck here?
We'll start there.
Basically, while watching this weather balloon float away,
we noticed all four helicopters leave the flight deck.
We now have an empty flight deck.
We had two imagery helos as well as the two crew
helicopters that will go recover the crew.
This is just one of the many things that again,
are a ship of 550 people.
It's something that you oversee as commanding officer.
Yeah, absolutely.
Every commanding officer,
I would say really every naval service member,
our priority is always safety.
And as the commanding officer,
I take that as one of my primary roles here on board.
Mission accomplishment is important, safety always.
So my day really has,
I would say my message to the crew
has sort of changed over the past 24 hours.
As we're leading up to today,
We've been building up excitement and motivating the team
for the training that we've executed,
but really over the past 24 hours,
now I'm trying to get us to slow down a little bit.
Trust our training, right?
Don't believe all the hype.
Don't believe everything that's going on.
Just trust what we've done to get to this point
and we do that, we'll be successful today.
And also part of the big success
is obviously the coordination between NASA
and the U.S. military.
How does it feel being able to support
the human space program we have?
Yeah, I mean, since 1959 with Mercury, Gemini, Apollo,
the history between NASA and the Navy has been in lockstep.
But like any other skill, if you don't practice it regularly,
the skill atrophies.
So we've had a few decades off from that.
Over the past four or five years, really,
this ship over the past year, we've constantly trained
in working for this moment right here,
building up the hype to get to this point today,
to trust all the training we've done.
We've worked with NASA, the Air Force, the medical team,
dive team, like you want to talk about high performance
organizations coming together, working unison.
We are seeing that here on board the U.S.
John P. Murph and I can't be more proud of the work
everyone is doing.
Yeah, you had some great words this morning saying just
that again, that it's really nice to see everybody working
together and so excited.
I mean, you just became the commanding officer of the
ship back in February.
How does it personally feel for you to be a part of this
historic moment today?
I mean, first and foremost, I'd say any opportunity to command any warship.
The United States Navy is a tremendous honor is a pinnacle of any naval officer's career.
That being said, my command of changing command was approaching and I realized
that Artemis was going to be in the window here to say that I'm humbled
and honored to be here as understatement.
What what really just excites me is the opportunity to see this crew who has
been training so hard over the past year plus, you know, come together.
It is what inspires me, listening to NASA and the ownership and pride they take, they'd make my career better.
I think we're making NASA better together. That synergy is something that I'm happy to see and hopefully take forward with me in my career.
Yeah, it's all about partnerships. You couldn't do it without you and we couldn't have gotten to the moon without our international partners as well.
So thank you so much, Captain. It was really great to have you here today.
Thanks, Megan.
All right, Rob, back to you.
Thank you, Megan, back here in Mission Control in Houston.
We just had a quick view of the crew.
We'll get that view back and there they are again.
Here in Mission Control, the entry team
of flight controllers led by Rick Henfling
and Jackie Mahaffey serving as the spacecraft communicator.
We have just handed over communications links
from the deep space network that we communicated
with the crew through from the time
of the trans-linear injection burn back on April 2nd,
we've just handed back to the tracking
and data relay satellite system as we prepare
for the crew module, service module separation
that will take place just 17 minutes from now.
With the Earth looming in front of integrity as it barrels back
for a splashdown of the Pacific just 50 minutes from now,
with just 5,700 nautical miles from splashdown.
Just one other quick note about the comparison
from the Artemis-1 entry profile to the Artemis-2 entry profile
and how that is serving as a extra layer of protection
for Integrity's heat shield.
The Artemis-1 entry had an entry range
of some 3,178 nautical miles, a very long down track
and a very longer period of exposure to heat loads
than we're experiencing tonight.
It also had that skip entry profile that we discussed earlier,
dipping into the Earth's atmosphere, then back out, then back in.
It was about 20 minutes of exposure.
Integrity, Houston, calm check on TDRS.
Jackie, we have it loud and clear on TDRS.
We have you the same.
And there's one of the weather balloons being deployed
from the USS John P. Murtha.
So, the Artemis 1 entry had the vehicle.
It's going to be updated on GPS.
We haven't seen a track yet.
Reed, we are watching.
We are starting to get into the window where they may start acquiring.
So, it should be within the next 10 minutes.
Okay, sounds good.
We're holding at step 17 and getting ready for CMRCO hotfire.
And that exchange indicating that we are expecting to acquire data
from the GPS system on board.
That'll be a navigational tool.
that will basically tell Integrity's computers
that they're on track down the centerline of the corridor
for the entry interface that will lead them
to their splashdown point.
Once again, the Artemis-1 entry exposed to the heat shield
for about 20 minutes of peak heating for Artemis-2.
We're going to reach a downtrack distance
of 1,701 nautical miles from the point of entry interface
with just 14 minutes of duration.
And it's basically a different angle of attack,
a little bit steeper angle of attack that will protect the heat shield from excessive heat loads.
So that is the difference between Artemis-1 and Artemis-2 all designed into this mission
to gather data to protect the heat shield since the Artemis-3 mission
and beyond will have a different designed heat shield that will allow that skip entry type
of profile to be resumed for all of the future missions coming back
from the South Pole of the Moon when we initiate lunar landings.
So we've handed over to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
That's where we'll have communications for the rest of the flight.
Just to give you some time hacks here, we're 13 and a half minutes away
from crew module, service module separation and just 17 minutes away
from the raise burn that 19 second firing of the thrusters
that will basically be the final fine tuning of the angle of attack for integrity
as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
And once again, a dueling box view of some of the assets
that are involved in recovery operations today, the integrity,
cabinet configured, all crew, suited and seated.
You've been copied.
That confirmation from Reed Wiseman aboard integrity,
as you see the assets are being deployed to the Splashdown zone.
At the time of Splashdown, we expect the John P. Murtha
to be about five miles away from integrity,
keeping a safe distance until we are sure
that the vehicle is in the water and upright
and that it is in a good configuration system wide
for the recovery teams to begin to approach the vehicle
to erect that inflatable raft.
Two minutes to CMRCS warm-up hotfire.
We're ready.
That call from spacecraft communicator Jackie Mahaffey
indicating that we're two minutes away from a quick burst
of the reaction control system.
Thrusters, that will be a hot fire test prior
to the separation of the crew module from the service module.
The European service module has performed flawlessly
throughout this flight.
Everything, all the burns that had been prescribed
for that service module have been executed on time
and without a problem, there is the European flight control room
that has overseen the manufacturing, the design
of the European service module.
They deserve quite a bit of credit on this mission
for not only propelling the integrity and its astronauts
toward the moon, but also conducting the fine tuning
of its trajectory to bring it to this point
where we are dead spot on down the middle of the corridor,
trajectory wise, to bring integrity down for its splash
down to the Pacific just 44 minutes from now.
What you're looking at is a computer-generated visualization based on real-time telemetry
from Integrity currently traveling about 16,000 miles an hour.
Integrity traveling about 16,000 miles an hour.
for the precaution for taking a look.
Copy that.
Now just about 5100 miles from Earth,
splashdown scheduled 43 minutes from now.
We're just 9.5 minutes away from the crew module,
service module separation.
We are confirming.
Integrity, we are assessing details, but so far looks like a good hot fire.
Looks good on board, Jackie, thank you.
And Jackie, behalf, you took the words out of my mouth, I was just about to say
that we had a good hot fire test of the thrusters in advance of the crew module,
service module separation that's coming up just eight and a half minutes from now.
This will begin the period in which we will have rapid fire succession
of critical activities on board that will lead to entry interface just 28 minutes from now
where the vehicle will enter the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet,
the time of entry interface, 6.53 and 30 seconds PM central time.
Thank you.
These astronauts were awakened at mid-morning to begin their entry preparations.
And the propulsion officer now reports a good hot fire test in preparation for the crew
module, service module separation.
We're now inside 41 minutes until splashdown.
In integrity, Houston, we have confirmed a good CMRCS hot fire.
And although we are not seeing GPS acquired yet,
you can skip the troubleshooting steps in 157 for now.
In integrity, counties.
That GPS discussion indicating that we will be acquiring navigational data
for integrity through the global positioning system equipment on board, we just don't have
it yet but we will. All of integrity systems are in great shape to support its high-speed
entry into the Earth's atmosphere. It once again will reach a peak speed of 24,661.21
miles an hour.
on GPS release, have GPS 1 looking good on board.
We are confirming.
The guidance navigation and control officer here
in mission control confirming that we have good lock on GPS data.
We are on a communications link now through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
Now following splashdown, we're going to lose that link and go to what's called a VLDR,
a very low data rate communications link, so that we can talk to the crew inside integrity
as they are on the water.
Integrity, confirm we do see good GPS.
We need to, especially GPS 1 is accepting in NAFTAHL's one and three.
That GPS data is basically telling integrity's onboard computers its position relative to
the Earth but its trajectory and its orientation according to flight dynamics and the guidance
navigation and control officer is spot on.
We have now armed the pyros for the crew module, service module separation coming up less than
five minutes from now.
Once again, just 10 seconds after entry interface, we will see integrity reaching its peak speed
of 24,661.21 miles per hour.
That will be just seconds before we begin a six-minute blackout period.
Integrity Houston, your vehicle is in a good config for CMS and SEP and go for CMRAs.
Houston, we see the same on board and copy go for CMRAs.
That CM raise referred to as the slight firing of 19 seconds
by integrity thrusters with a change in velocity of 9.9 feet
per second, a slight nudge of the aft end of the vehicle
so that it's tilted a bit upward providing the final angle
of attack as the vehicle enters the Earth's atmosphere.
This being the mitigating factor that will reduce heat loads
on the heat shield as we reach a point downrange
from the start of entry interface some 17001 nautical miles
to the splashdown site.
Integrity systems in excellent shape.
We are currently 3,300 nautical miles left in this mission.
Splashdown scheduled 36 minutes 39 seconds from now.
Integrity Houston, for the two enabled prop cautions, what happened is while the thrusters
were firing multiple pressure sensors on each of the strings diverged a bit from each other,
those limits look to be set pretty tight. We think it could happen again when the
thrusters fire in the future, so we are going to suppress those messages.
We concur with some press nod and have a thank you.
That exchange between Jackie Mahaffey or CAPCOM for tonight and Reed Wiseman,
a board integrity indicating basically to ignore sensor data.
All of integrity systems are in good shape.
Now, coming up on about 90 seconds
until the Crew Module, Service Module separation.
All quiet here in Mission Control as we enter the most critical phase of the completion
of this flight, all of the preparatory activities leading
up to the vehicle entering the Earth's atmosphere just 21
minutes from now.
Coming up on one minute, mark one minute
to crew module, service module separation.
And we have confirmation of crew module,
service module separation and a great view albeit momentarily.
Houston, good to have you aboard.
Houston copies in concur.
The European service module now separated
from integrity, a job well done.
Integrity, no action for the four CDH cautions.
Those are SM related, not applicable.
Integrity.
So with integrity now flying free on its own
for the remaining 32 minutes of this mission.
Next up, the raise burn, a 19 second firing
of integrity thrusters.
to GPS 2.
Okay, thank you to Calvary, to GPS 2.
Coming up on the 2-minute mark until the rays burn.
Again, this is the final tweaking of the orientation
of integrity to put it in the right angle, if you will,
the angle of attack that it will fly
in during its entrance into the Earth's atmosphere.
Entry interface now just 18 minutes, 25 seconds away.
This is a visualization but driven by real-time telemetry.
This is the maneuvering of integrity
to the raise burn orientation.
Just 2,800 miles from Earth.
You're seeing we've got a great view of the European service module out the window with
the sun hitting the side and the solar rays and the NASA worm right there.
It's a beautiful looking machine.
Roger.
And we have completed the maneuver to the raise burn orientation one minute away from
the raise burn.
And the crew module raise burn is underway, a 19 second firing of the thrusters.
And we have a completion of the burn.
Integrity, good, CMRase burn, your flight path angle is within limits.
Integrity copies, let's go to more Jackie.
So the final maneuver is now complete.
Our trajectory for a splashdown in the Pacific 29 minutes from now is set
and will not be amended any further.
And we have the right angle of attack to mitigate any excessive heat loads
on the vehicle during entry interface.
And, Tigerty Houston, a heads up about calm coverage.
When you perform the 180 roll for the first minute or so in that attitude,
we expect about a minute, LOS.
We copy.
So, for those who are watching, the series of events coming up,
we will enter the first traces of Earth's atmosphere, 14 minutes, 45 seconds from now.
653 and 30 seconds is what is pegged for entry interface at an altitude of 400,000 feet,
traveling at approximately 34,800 feet per second,
range to touchdown or splash down 1,701 nautical miles.
24 seconds after entry interface, we will enter a six-minute blackout period
in which we will lose communications with the crew.
This is expected due to the buildup of plasma around the vehicle.
That's an ionization effect due to the collision, if you will,
of the velocity of the spacecraft with the friction of the Earth's atmosphere.
That six-minute blackout is expected to begin at 6.53 and 54 seconds p.m. central time.
During that period of time, we will reach our peak speed of 24,661 miles per hour
that comes just short based on unofficial data
from the Flight Dynamics Officer right now.
will come just short of the velocity record set by Apollo 10 of 24,791 miles per hour in 1969.
We expect peak heating on the vehicle at 6.54 and 52 seconds p.m. central time,
a minute and 22 seconds into entry interface.
At that point, we will be just 204,000 feet above the Earth, traveling at 33,000 feet per second.
The blackout period is expected to last six minutes.
We expect that blackout period to end at 6.59 and 55 seconds p.m. central time.
From the end of the blackout period until splashdown, it is just seven minutes,
at which point we'll start deploying the series of parachutes to slow integrity down
to an ultimate splashdown velocity of just 19 miles an hour.
We see the same waiting for the 180-year-olds.
The parachute deployment sequence once again will come in several segments, but in rapid
fire succession.
And we have a great view of the moon out window too.
Looks a little smaller than yesterday.
We'll have to go back.
Reed Wiseman and Jackie Mahaffey exchanging discussion on a view of the moon
that Integrity's astronauts are seeing in the final minutes of this mission
that will be completed with splashdown just 25 minutes from now.
Three forward bay cover parachutes will be used
to pull the forward bay cover off the top of the vehicle.
Then two drug parachutes will be deployed to slow
and stabilize the crew module during its descent,
followed by three pilot parachutes that will lift
and deploy the main parachutes from the forward bay.
The final sequence will have three main parachutes deployed
These will be 116 feet in diameter,
each main parachute approximately 265 feet long when reefed.
The parachutes will ultimately slow integrity down from its peak speed
of almost 33 times the speed of sound to a gentle 19 miles an hour of splashdown.
The vehicle is now currently in a roll
to the proper attitude for entry interface.
Our trajectory is right on according to flight dynamics.
Integrity is on a trajectory from southwest and northeast across the Pacific Ocean descending at a rate of 15,000 feet per second.
Range to touchdown 4,300 nautical miles, all the systems in excellent shape.
Thank you, the Orion in the EI-Roll 180 attitude.
Let's get on board, Jackie.
This view out of one of Integrity's windows.
We had a call for three good barrows.
Those are barometric pressure sensors that feed altitude and rate of descent information
to Integrity's computers that will trigger the parachute deployment sequence.
We are less than nine minutes away from entry interface, 22 minutes from splashdown.
You can see the reflection of one
of the crew members in the window.
Out on the Pacific, all the weather conditions remain go.
Just a few clouds, some scattered clouds, winds at 10 knots,
wave heights just about four feet.
A gentle day in the Pacific for the homecoming
of Integrity's astronauts.
Integrity back in EI attitude.
We see the same one board, Jackie.
Houston purges, complete. Crew and vehicle are configured for entry.
Houston copies.
And we're in step 37 transferring that state to BFS.
Houston in instruction 509, we are not below 0 decimal 2.
Integrity, no action required.
Integrity.
Now, six minutes away from entry interface, we will hit the first traces of Earth's atmosphere
at an altitude of 400,000 feet, traveling about 34,882 feet per second,
range to splash down at that point will be 1,701 nautical miles.
Once again, just a reminder, some 24 seconds after entry interface,
we do expect to lose communications with the vehicle and the crew during a six-minute blackout period
when a plasma shield will build up around the spacecraft due to the ionization,
due to heating effects, and flight dynamics has just confirmed we will have a blackout period
of exactly six minutes in duration.
And once again, that's due to the fact
that a plasma buildup around the vehicle will prevent communications
and data, so we will not be able to talk to the crew members at that time,
nor will we receive data here in the flight control room.
Easton, everything is looking good on board.
Just confirm no pre-EI downloads.
Easton, concur.
That blackout period to begin at 6.53
and 54 seconds PM central time.
And again, will last about six minutes in duration.
We're four minutes away from entry interface.
This view from integrity as it crosses from southwest
and northeast across the Pacific Ocean,
three minutes from entry interface.
Sixteen and a half minutes till splashdown.
The USS John P. Murtha and the recovery team is on station
and in position as are the airborne imagery assets
that we hope to receive imagery from as Artemis enters the
Earth's atmosphere and through parachute deployment.
All of integrity systems are in great shape.
The crew is ready to complete its mission just 15 and a half minutes from now.
All of the activities today have gone off in perfect fashion.
No issues with the vehicle, no issues with the crew.
And the weather at the splashdown site is go.
Coming up on one minute until entry interface.
Mark, one minute until entry interface.
One minute, 20 seconds until the expected start of our six-minute blackout.
Integrity, one minute to a six-minute blackout.
Hey, Tangerine.
10 seconds till entry interface.
And we have crossed the threshold now entering the Earth's atmosphere.
We're at 400,000 feet, traveling 34,800 feet per second.
Time to splash down, 13 minutes, 10 seconds.
And as predicted, we've entered our communications blackout.
This will be a six minute blackout period.
No voice, no data from the crew.
We're 30 seconds away from the anticipated point of peak heating on the vehicle
where temperatures will rise to about 4 to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is the true test of our trajectory.
And from the G-5 aircraft, in the vicinity of the splashdown zone, this view of integrity.
So that pinpoint of light shows the vehicle as it enters the period of peak heating
in the Earth's atmosphere, the first tug of gravity being felt by integrity's astronauts
since their launch back on April 1st.
Four and a half minutes until the end of the blackout period.
Time to splash down, 11 minutes, 33 seconds.
The landing and support officer reports that the P3 has acquisition on integrity.
Three and a half minutes left in this blackout period.
This is a visualization of the plasma buildup around the spacecraft
and the repelling of that heat on integrity's heat shield.
Flight Dynamics reports that airborne assets
in the vicinity of the splashdown zone do have a visual
on integrity, still two minutes and 40 seconds left
in our blackout period.
Time to splashdown, 9 minutes, 35 seconds.
Multiple airborne assets as part of the recovery team all have visuals on integrity.
And the WB 57 flying in the splashdown zone also has a visual.
And the Navy Helos also have visuals.
We're still in the blackout period, still do not have communications from the crew.
We're standing by for communications from the crew.
We should be out of the blackout period less than a minute from now.
We are now processing data from integrity.
and support officer reports the small boats are en route to the splashdown target zone.
Passing through 150,000 feet, our trajectory is perfect.
We're getting intermittent views of integrity, still waiting to establish voice communication.
Integrity Houston, Com check, post blackout.
Houston, integrity, we have you loud and clear.
Your trajectory is nominal and your recovery teams have visual.
Guides looks good.
No action for the enabled internal camera controller fail.
Cheers from the viewing room here in Mission Control as voice communication re-established
with Commander Reid Wiseman.
For America, an awaiting world, integrity is five and a half minutes away from coming
home.
100,000 feet now, range to splash down 19 nautical miles.
Integrity impact to the camera controller fail is no CAB-1 views of the shoot.
Integrity.
We're processing good data through the GPS system.
A good view of integrity, time to splash down four and a half minutes.
And a view of integrity from the WB 57.
We're at 50,000 feet.
The pyros are armed for forward bay cover, Jettison.
And there go the first series of parachutes and we're on drugs.
And Houston were visual two drugs out the window.
two good drug shoots.
Next up.
We copy.
We see him.
Next up, the deployment of pilot parachutes
that will pull the main shoots out.
Time to splash down three minutes in 10 seconds.
Perfect descent rate according to flight dynamics.
We're going to have a good rate on two drugs.
We see the final board.
Passing through 10,000 feet, still on drogues.
Main chute deployed.
We're at 5,000 feet.
Search and recovery beacon has been activated on integrity.
And we have three good main chutes.
Window. Good three main shoots, good reefing, good descent rate.
And we see three good looking parachutes.
Integrity, cabin pressure indicates no need for hydrogen checks.
Integrity copies.
This is a perfect descent for integrity.
It's cruise sounding hail and hearty on board.
Time to splash down one minute 15 seconds.
Integrity about to complete a journey spanning 694,481 miles from its launch from the Kennedy
Space Center back on April 1st and a trip around the moon.
Passing through 1,000 feet.
You've staggered the splashdown sending post landing command now.
Splashdown confirmed.
Stop the splashdown waiting on VLDR.
confirmed at 7.07 p.m. Central Time, 5.07 p.m. Pacific Time,
from the pages of Jules Verne to a modern-day mission to the moon,
a new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete.
Integrity's astronauts, back on Earth.
And the landing and support officer reports the vehicle is stable one.
We still will be deploying the crew module upriding system
to maintain that orientation.
A perfect bullseye splashdown for integrity in its four astronauts.
Thank you.
The unofficial splashdown time, 7.07 and 47 seconds PM central time.
We'll get that refined for you that would put the end of the mission
at a mission elapsed time of nine days, one hour, 31 minutes, 35 seconds.
And we're configuring for a very low data rate.
Once again, splashdown occurring in the Pacific,
southwest of San Diego, at 7.07 and 47 seconds p.m.
Integrity Houston, Com check on VLDR.
Houston, we have you loud and clear on VLDR, how are us?
We have you the same, we'll meet you over in post landing.
Perfect communications established.
A journey. We are stable one, four green crew members.
Houston copies all.
Reed Wiseman reporting four green crew members.
That is not their complexion.
That is the fact that they're in great condition.
That's what that means.
So, stable one, upright.
The crew module upriding system is being deployed.
The five airbags being inflated through Helium
to maintain the upright configuration for the vehicle.
This was a textbook entry and a textbook touchdown
for integrity.
Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Cook
and Jeremy Hansen back on Earth after a journey around the moon.
We continue to monitor the functioning of the CMOS system.
The airbags are being inflated to maintain a stable one
or upright configuration.
And there's a good view from one
of the naval helicopters hovering overhead.
Read Weisman reporting, four green crew members,
meaning they're all in excellent shape.
Integra Houston for Sarebekan N Radio.
Sarebekan is in 406 and we're firing the radio now.
Go ahead.
We see the beacon on.
However, the recovery team is not seeing the signal.
Your star radio uses the same antenna, so you may run into trouble with the radio
Take up here. We are also firing up the set for now
So integrity is in great shape and as the crew continues its post a splashdown
down timeline activities on board.
Reed Wiseman once again reporting that all four crew members are in excellent shape.
And we have five inflated airbags to maintain an upright configuration so that the reaction,
the recovery team can now begin a slow approach to the vehicle.
Meanwhile here in the flight control room, entry flight director Rick Henfling is
polling his team of flight controllers for the start of powering down the vehicle
after a thorough systems check, we have no toxic gases to be concerned about.
So the recovery personnel can approach the vehicle, but not until we have powered
down the spacecraft, that's expected to take a few more minutes.
It's a historic flyby of the moon.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a textbook mission.
We are on 2828, put our main on this frequency.
We copy.
Reed Wiseman indicating some trouble
with the SARS-Sat phone on board.
But that's not an issue.
What is more important is that the vehicle
is solid. No issues as we begin the power down of the vehicle to begin the recovery process.
The Propulsion Officer here in Mission Control reports
that we have saved the prop system on integrity.
Can you say again that was very weak and broken?
Entity Houston did not call.
Copy that Houston.
It might have been on the side radio, Sam I.
All of the milestones were executed in perfect fashion, integrity entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Right on time, reaching its peak speed shortly after a blackout period began.
We emerged from the blackout period, but the recovery imagery airborne assets were able
to pick up integrity's descent almost immediately through entry interface,
tracking the vehicle all the way down.
And finally, you saw the sequence of shoot deployments.
First, the forward bay cover being pulled off the top of the vehicle by a series
of three parachutes, then the drogue shoots were deployed followed by the three main shoots
that slowed the splashdown velocity of integrity to just 19 miles an hour.
Integrity, Houston, with no joy on SAR and SAT phone, we'd like you to command an additional
15 minutes for a total of 30-minute power down delay.
All right, Jack, we just selected T flash D plus 3, 0.
No joy on SAR radio or SEPHOM.
And standby, we have the master diver on SAR radio.
Please hold columns.
Hey Lily, excuse me.
Hey Jackie, we just got the Master Diver on the star.
A good view of one of the fast boats.
Integrity Houston, if you are happy with your calm
with Master Diver, you can go back to the 15 minute powder.
Okay, standby.
Yeah, we'll confirm here in a second.
The crew on board integrity coordinating
with the flight control team in Houston here
in mission control on the timing of the power down
of the vehicle, which will be the precursor
to the recovery teams approaching the spacecraft.
There are no issues with integrity.
We've had a bit of a broken capability in establishing a SARSAT
or satellite phone communications capability
between the crew on board integrity and the recovery team
that will get sorted out here shortly.
There's plenty of cooling on board integrity,
so there's no rush to begin the power down.
I'm going to call you on the SAT phone and not getting an answer there either.
Concur. We haven't had anything come through.
And, Houston, if you could relay to recovery that we hear them, but it does not appear
so they are hearing us.
Houston copies and read just to confirm you are pushing the PTT on the radio.
So as we continue to sort out the communications between integrity
and the recovery teams, we are standing by for the initiation
of the power down procedures that as you see the recovery teams are moving towards the side
of the capsule, the next major event will be the erection
of that large inflatable raft called the front porch.
That will be the port of call for the crew
as they're being extracted one by one from the vehicle.
Integrity Houston for Satsong, we are going to attempt to call you.
Good idea, standing by.
And Jackie, yes, we are pushing the push to talk, the two buttons on the left side
of the radio below the up-down arrows.
We are utilizing them.
I'm rebooting the radio to see if we get good coms.
Okay, we copy all.
And just to confirm, you are seeing that you are a touchdown plus 30-3-0 for power, correct?
That's a formative.
We are trying a backdoor approach to have mission control here call the crew on their
satellite phone. This is all part of the coordination for the power down of the vehicle
that will initiate the actual recovery operation. The first boats with the Navy divers on board
are standing by waiting to close in on integrity to begin the process of erecting the large
inflatable raft that's called the front porch that will be where the astronauts
are extracted from so that they can have a few minutes
to get their land legs back before they're hoisted aboard
the Navy helicopters for the flight back to the deck
of the USS John P. Murtha.
I'm going to have to reply.
And Houston, please don't reply.
NRD, very weak, but readable master diver.
We can hear, but they cannot hear us.
At Houston on OE 1, is there any chance to tie us into NRD?
Checking.
This is Mission Control Houston while we stand by for the establishment of communications
between integrity and the recovery team that is basically standing by very close to the
spacecraft.
We're going to go to the deck of the USS John P. Murtha where Megan Cruz is standing
by with Administrator Jared Isaacman.
Hey, Rob, yeah, just such an honor to be able to be here on the ship, to be able to share
and experience this moment with everyone together.
And of course, as you just said, yes, here with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Administrator,
how did you feel getting to witness this and seeing NASA at its best?
No, I mean, I'm honest, I'm still at a loss for words.
and you know like the childhood Jared right now can't believe what I just saw
I mean almost been waiting my whole lifetime to see to see this and then
it's NASA administrator I just couldn't be more proud of the entire workforce
the years the effort the late nights all the hard work from across the
country that contributed to this incredible moment right now and yeah
incredibly grateful too for our teams here on the John P. Murther right now
yeah look at the behind me there. What do you guys think we just brought some
astronauts back from the moon, huh?
Unbelievable. Thank you. Yeah, so grateful to the Navy, the sailors that are here, the
NASA teams. I mean, this is a joint effort that's on their way right now. These recovery
forces are getting out to our Orion spacecraft to integrity, get our astronauts back on
the ship safely.
Yeah, and this is not just an accomplishment for NASA. This is an accomplishment for
humanity again. A historic mission to the moon and back. How does this make
you feel and what do you hope people take away from this? Well I'll tell you
you know I think about I think about our the crew members that we've all had an
opportunity to observe over the last 10 days right I mean you know absolutely
professional astronauts I mean wonderful communicators almost poets but then I
think these were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out
there right now and I can't imagine a better crew the Artemis 2 crew that
just completed a perfect mission right now so yes it's a huge moment for
everybody right. I mean we are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon bringing them
back safely and to set up for a series more. I mean this is not a once in a lifetime which
you hear sometimes around here is like this was a once in a lifetime. No it's not. This is just
the beginning. We are going to get back into doing this with frequency sending missions to
the moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base. Yeah are we going to build
on the momentum for Artemis 3? I mean it's just around the corner. Absolutely. So I mean
I mean, that's part of me too.
I can't wait to get the crew off of integrity right now,
but also getting integrity back on this ship
so we can start taking a look at it,
because all that data is so precious to us right now.
I mean, we are going to definitely want to take a good look
at the thermal protection system.
We're going to want to download all the data
that couldn't transmit back to us
and use that to inform Artemis III.
But we're already making progress, right?
You had SRB segments already showing up at KSC.
Core stage for Artemis III is rolling out on April 20th.
We're getting mobile launcher one back in the vehicle assembly building so yes, there is
a lot to celebrate right now on a mission well accomplished for Artemis II and at the
same time we got to start getting ready for three.
Amazing.
And last question, you know, for people who joined us for all ten days to see what we
can accomplish together with our international partners, what do you think about the
fact that we're going to keep doing this more and more and more?
It's incredibly exciting.
I mean, yes, it's the contributions, like the best and brightest across the NASA workforce
from across the country, our industry partners, our international partners, we had a Canadian
Space Agency astronaut on board in Jeremy, we had the European service module.
And you think, in the days leading up to this launch, I mean, 48 hours prior to launching
Artemis II, I was meeting with the Italian Space Agency, we signed a memorandum of understanding
to build a habitation module on the moon.
I mean, you have countries, all of our allies and partners
coming together saying, we are committed to this effort.
We are returning to the moon.
We're doing it to stay.
We are building that enduring presence.
We are going to master the skills on the surface of the moon
so Sunday we can undertake missions tomorrow.
It's just an incredibly exciting time.
And we're not going out of the loam.
We're bringing everybody along with us.
Absolutely.
And speaking of everyone one more time,
we're going to ask the crew here.
You guys ready to land on the moon?
Awesome. I love that. Okay. Well, thank you so much, administrator. Appreciate you being here.
We're of course going to stay on to watch the crew get extracted from Orion.
So stay tuned and we'll see you back here shortly.
Thank you, Megan and thank you, Administrator Isaacman.
We are in the process of working to establish that communications link
and to establish the procedures that will lead to the power down of the spacecraft
which is gently bobbing in the Pacific following a bullseye touchdown
that occurred at 7.07 p.m. Central Time, 5.07 p.m. Pacific Time,
two and a half hours before sunset in the Pacific Southwest of San Diego.
We have once again heard from the crew during that interview opportunity
with the administrator and we have four healthy crew members on board.
We now have confirmation that the vehicle has been powered down as per the procedures
so we have vehicle powered down and the flight control team here in Houston,
Flight Director Rick Henfling has handed over mission authority
to the Exploration Ground Systems Team out in the Pacific.
Now, we will physically not get off console with this team
until the crew has been extracted into the front porch.
That inflatable raft that will be erected along the side hatch
of integrity, so we're standing by for that in the next step
in the recovery procedures.
But everything is in great shape.
And we have four healthy crew members on board the vehicle.
All of the entry events went by the book No Issues, Perfect Trajectory for Integrity
that was culminated with one final raise burn to improve the angle of attack
for the vehicle as it entered the Earth's atmosphere.
All of that flight dynamics computation worked like a charm.
So we are standing by for the recovery team to approach integrity and begin the process
of erecting that inflatable raft called the front porch, which we'll see the crew members
be extracted from the hatch of Orion into that inflatable raft
before they're hoisted aboard two Navy helicopters in a variety
of different configurations.
Each crew member will be hoisted in sequential fashion
and alternating fashion to crew members for each helicopter
before they turn around to head back to the John P. Murtha once
on the deck of the ship they'll be brought into Medical Bay
for comprehensive medical exams.
But Reed Wiseman has reported several times
that the crew is in excellent shape.
So just to recap, it has been some 26 and a half minutes since the splashdown
of integrity in the Pacific.
The vehicle is in excellent shape.
It performed like a champ all the way down
through the Earth's atmosphere.
All of the vehicle functions were checked off
in excellent trip hammer fashion.
The parachutes all deployed as planned,
splashed out occurring at 7.07 p.m. central time,
5.07 p.m. Pacific time.
And after a bit of a tussle to try to establish a communications link
with the recovery team, we were finally able to run through the procedures
for the powering down of the vehicle.
We've handed over mission authority
to the exploration ground systems folks out in the Pacific.
And the recovery team will be approaching the vehicle shortly
to erect the inflatable raft called the front porch before opening the hatch to integrity
to bring the crew members onto that raft before they're hoisted onto two Navy helicopters,
two crew members for each helicopter before they're flown back
to the deck of the USS John P. Murtha.
This is Mission Control Houston.
After talking to the flight dynamics folks,
we have a bit of a refinement on the splashdown time for you.
Their computation shows a splashdown time of 707
and 27 seconds p.m. Central Time.
707 and 27 seconds p.m. Central Time.
That would equate to a mission elapsed time
of nine days, one hour, 32 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Once again, from Flight Dynamics, a splashdown time of 707
and 27 seconds p.m. Central Time.
That would equate to a mission elapsed time
of nine days, one hour, 32 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Reports from the Pacific indicate that the recovery team
in communications with the crew aboard integrity
that the crew remains in excellent shape as they await the approach
of the team for a final hazard gas evaluation
before they move to the side of the vehicle
to erect the inflatable life raft called the front porch.
Again, no issues with integrity.
The vehicle is powered down.
All of its systems are now safe.
We have handed over mission authority
to the exploration ground systems folks in the Pacific,
but we will not stand down and have the entry flight control team
to part its positions until that inflatable raft,
the front porch is erected, the hatch open,
and the crew having exited the vehicle.
So that's the next step in the recovery process that will lead
to the hoisting of the crew members.
For two crew members for each helicopter, they'll be hoisted to a pair
of Navy helicopters that will then fly a short distance back
to the USS John P. Murtha.
What you're looking at is one of the fast boats circling the vehicle
to make a hazard assessment.
This is Mission Control Houston.
Once again, you're watching the initiation of the recovery
of the Artemis crew aboard integrity.
All of the Navy divers and the fast boats are now approaching the spacecraft
after conducting a hazard assessment.
The vehicle has been powered down.
Entry Flight Director Rick Henfling now waiting for the life raft, the front porch,
to be erected along the side of the vehicle
so that the hatch can be opened and the crew members extracted
from integrity soon to be hoisted one by one
into a pair of Navy helicopters for a short flight back
to the deck of the USS John P. Murtha.
If you missed it earlier, we talked to Flight Dynamics
and received a more official touchdown time,
of or splashdown time as it were of 707 and 27 seconds p.m. central time 507
and 27 seconds p.m. Pacific time that would equate to a mission elapsed time of nine days
one hour 32 minutes and 15 seconds.
Continuing to get excellent views from the imagery assets out at sea in the Pacific of integrity,
we continue to get good reports from the landing and support officer who's in contact
with the recovery team that the crew is in excellent shape, no issues.
They're just currently biding their time waiting for the front porch to be erected.
And we have no hazardous gases and no hazardous situation
with the vehicle.
It performed perfectly all the way down from entry interface
to its splashdown in the Pacific at 7.07 and 27 seconds PM
central time.
And as you can see, the first phalanx of recovery personnel
now pulling up alongside of integrity.
This includes Navy divers and Navy flight surgeon
and other recovery personnel who have trained for several years
for this recovery process.
minutes following splashdown the vehicle has been powered down there's no hazardous gas emanating
from the vehicle that's why the first team of recovery personnel has been able to pull alongside
integrity and the reports continue to come in that the four astronauts are in excellent shape.
I
Yes
This is Mission Control Houston, continuing to watch the initiation
of the recovery of Integrity's astronauts.
One by one they'll be brought out of the spacecraft
onto a large inflatable raft just a short time from now.
In the meantime we can go back to the USS John P. Murtha
where my colleague, Megan Cruz, is standing by
to provide her situation report.
Megan, can you hear us?
Hey, Rob. Yes, I can hear you. Thank you.
Yeah, we're back here on the bow of the recovery ship
where there are still plenty of people peering out into the water.
We are not very far from the action everyone is seeing
on their screen now, the Orion spacecraft integrity in the ocean surrounded by a number
of recovery boats.
As Rob has been saying, in those recovery boats, NASA and Navy personnel specifically trained
to get the astronauts out of Orion.
In some of our wide shots, you can probably see
that there are six boats out in the water.
More than 40 people out in the water right now on those boats.
The first order of business is to set up the front porch and the stabilization collar.
You might also hear it referred to as a stab collar.
Basically just to make sure that Orion stays upright, doesn't sway in the water too
much, again, to make it easier for recovery forces to get the astronauts out.
Again, we splashed down in the Pacific Ocean just after 5 p.m. Pacific time here.
It's a requirement by NASA to be able to get the crew out of Orion within two hours of
splashdown.
It's doing great on time so far, plenty of time.
No rush either.
You know, I was speaking to NASA Flight Surgeon Rick Schuring earlier in this broadcast
and he said to me, you know, no rush to get the crew out, just want to make sure
that they're feeling good and whenever they're ready to take their step out of
Orion and onto that large raft, the front porch, folks will be ready.
And as there are mission audio loops in mission control in Houston, there is a mission audio
loop here on the ship.
And it was just reported out that the side hatch is open.
Side hatch of integrity is open.
You're getting these beautiful shots from our aerial assets.
ship itself where I'm on just 3,000 yards away again plenty of people on the boat
here glued to the side closest to where they can see all this action and again
with just 3,000 yards separating us great views from the bow here you can
See now that side hatch is open.
One of the Navy personnel is about to get inside there.
In they go.
In total, four will go into Orion.
So it'll be a little bit of a tight squeeze,
But the goal is to have a recovery personnel with each astronaut assessing them.
The boat's getting closer now.
Again that one that's right up against Orion, those are the divers that will go in to the
spacecraft to check on each of the astronauts.
These other boats will begin doing a number of things, putting on that stabilization
collar onto Orion, building that front porch. Eventually they will retrieve the parachutes
as well as tow Orion back to the well deck of the recovery ship here.
And so, as we wait for the Navy and NASA personnel to get their assessments of the crew inside
of Orion, why don't we toss it back to Rob for an update?
Yes, thank you, Megan.
Here in Mission Control, Flight Director Rick Henfling and the entry team of flight controllers
still on duty.
The vehicle has been powered down for some time now.
There are no hazardous gases emanating from integrity that of course allowed the recovery
personnel to approach the vehicle and then open the hatch to begin the initial medical
assessment of the crew as you just indicated.
Now we're standing by for the erection of that inflatable raft, the front porch, alongside
of the vehicle that will enable the crew to be extracted one by one onto the raft,
a moment or two to get their land legs back before they're hoisted into two hovering Navy
helicopters, two crew members for each helicopter for a short flight back to the deck of the USS John
P. Murtha. All of Integrity's systems operated flawlessly throughout the course of the approach
approach to the Earth, the entry into the Earth's atmosphere and all of the key milestones
that followed in this high-speed return to Earth for integrity, a mission that spanned
more than 694,000 miles from the vehicle's launch from the Kennedy Space Center atop
the space launch system back on April 1st.
As we mentioned at the top of the broadcast, the last time
that the Apollo program saw a splash down in the Pacific was Apollo 17 back
on December 19th, 1972.
So, for the first time in 54, some 53 and a half years, we have reenacted that with the arrival
of integrity's astronauts as they flew around the moon in that historic lunar fly-by
that began with a trans-lunar injection burn that took them
out of Earth orbit following 24 hours
of a high Earth orbit trajectory.
The high Earth orbit trajectory enabled flight controllers here
to have a full 24 hours to evaluate the systems on integrity
and the condition of the crew before they would commit
to flying to the moon.
you
With the side hatch of Orion having been opened to set the stage for the erection
of the inflatable life raft known as the front porch to be erected alongside the spacecraft
for the extraction of the crew.
Let's play for you an interview that my colleague Megan Cruz conducted on the USS John P.
with Navy Diver First Class David McMahon that explains how this process is unfolding.
Okay, Davey, so you and some of your team, one last look over of the stabilization power, correct?
Yes, sir.
Okay, so what is the stabilization power?
This is what's going to stabilize the capsule out there in the ocean.
We don't know how good the weather or the waves will be that day, so this will help
will help prevent any unnecessary appearances from happening,
stabilizing the capsule and astronauts inside.
So basically, this is a float that will go around Orion.
I'm assuming that what they're doing right now,
these are the lines that will attach the collar onto Orion.
That is correct.
And so what are they doing here?
So we've got the lower line that
will secure the inflation device before we inflate it.
That gives us the go ahead that it's secure in its place
and then we'll inflate it.
and once that is done we'll undo all the carabiners and get this orange line on top
tied in the same fashion and then this release security to the capsule. We'll ask for
us to safely take those first steps out of the capsule and walk through the front porch.
Okay and how long will it take them to set up the stabilization collar?
We'll actually definitely be able to handle this in under 10 minutes.
Okay wow and then you just mentioned the front porch so basically after they set up
the stabilization collar then they set up what's called the front porch here.
That's great. Okay and what's the front porch?
front porch was basically a bigger waiting room for the astronauts to sit in while we wait for the
helicopters to shut up and grab them. Okay, so the medical team that was inside with the crew,
they're going to help them out and onto the front porch? That is correct. And then what happens
here? We have a higher trained medical personnel also on board the front porch that will give
them lookovers and just make sure they're okay while we wait for the helicopters to show
Okay, how does it feel, I mean, your team, you, to be part of a mission that's returning astronauts from the moon in more than 50 years?
We all feel extremely honored to be a part of this, as well as a bigger mission for the Navy and joining up with NASA to do great things.
And do you feel like you're going to see them already?
Yes, yes, very ready.
Cool. All right, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Once again, the recovery operations are continuing out in the Pacific.
We shortly should see that life raft, the front porch,
erected alongside the side hatch of the vehicle.
A number of flight controllers have come into the flight control room to receive congratulations
from entry flight director Rick Henfling, but we're going to stick with our operations
out of the Pacific as we await the extraction of the four crew members who are reported
to be in excellent condition.
Again, while we stand by for that front porch to be erected alongside of the side hatch of
the vehicle, let's go back to the USS John P. Murtha and Megan Cruz.
Megan?
Hey, Rob, pausing now to listen to some, pausing to listen to some internal audio loops again,
the operations team here on the ship communicating with everyone out on the water.
It seems like currents are hindering them a little bit from unfurling and inflating
the stabilization collar as well as the front Porsche. But again the requirement to get the
crew out within two hours of splashdown, plenty of time. So no concerns just yet. But as calm
as the water looks, yeah, it looks like it's hindering the teams just a tad.
You can see in some of our shots that side hatch still open.
Again inside there are now eight people inside.
divers Navy divers all with medical training each assigned to an astronaut
each making sure that they're comfortable feeling good
as you've heard us say in the broadcast you know they expect a little bit of
discomfort. Again, these astronauts just traveled back to Earth at 25,000 miles an hour, a nearly
695,000 mile journey around the moon. If you think you'd get car sick. Again, six boats
out there, lots of gear with them, just in case, right? As we said, the crew reported
They're feeling great, but again all those folks out there in case they weren't, right?
NASA is all about making sure we think about every situation that can happen.
And so of course wanted to be ready in case any of our astronauts needed more medical
attention while out there in the water.
You see now teams again trying to set up the stabilization collar and front porch for the
crew to get out of Orion.
They need both right?
The stabilization collar will keep Orion from swaying as you see it is doing now.
And then they will connect the front porch to the stabilization collar so that the crew
can take two steps and they will be in the front porch.
Mala chatter on the mission audio loops. That's a good thing. Again, things proceeding pretty
nominally, even if they're fighting some currents out there on the Pacific Ocean.
Again, the goal setting up the stabilization collar and the front porch so that the crew
can rest comfortably in the front porch, get placed into harnesses so that two helicopters
can lift them off the front porch and onto the USS John
Murphy here.
The helicopters are going to take turns picking up
an astronaut.
So again, Helo-1 and Helo-2.
Okay, and the recovery team here on the ship just got a report from the undersea medical
officer who is inside the capsule with the crew.
He is reporting all four members are green.
All of our four astronauts read Victor, Christina, Jeremy green, meaning they are feeling great,
not the complexion of their skin.
They're feeling great, happy to be home, and ready to be extracted as soon as possible.
And so, as I was saying, we have two helicopters circling.
The activity you're seeing on the water right now, each will take turns picking up an astronaut,
So, Helo-1 will come on in, hover above the front porch,
about 40 feet above the front porch.
A Navy recovery specialist will be hoisted down
into the front porch.
There is terrific mudrogering, don't you think that effect?
We'll connect to the first astronaut
which we're expecting to be Christina.
And then Helo-2 comes around, picks up Jeremy,
while Helo 1 stays above head.
And then Helo 1 will come back in for another astronaut,
and then Helo 2 for the last astronaut,
and then back to the flight deck here on the recovery ship.
I was talking to Assistant Artemis Recovery Director Paul
Shrapinski, Shrapinski.
He said helos are a much quicker, safer way to get on board.
They did actually consider boats,
but then if you think about it, longer time,
the crew would have to move through more of the ship.
This way the helos will give a more direct, quicker route
to the medical bay for our four astronauts.
Beautiful shots from our aerial and imagery teams.
Clouds have dissipated for a clear view from the bow of the recovery ship here.
You can still see divers in the water there and circling Orion.
That is that stabilization collar we've been telling you about.
As you saw in that interview just a few minutes ago,
they have to first connect it to Orion.
And then once it's secured onto Orion, they can inflate it.
And then they'll further secure it
with other harnesses and lines.
about an hour and 10 minutes since splashed down in the Pacific Ocean here.
Victor, Christina, and Jeremy back home after a history-making mission to the
moon and back.
And if you missed what we said just a couple of minutes ago, the undersea medical officer
inside with the crew in Orion reporting all four crew members feeling great.
Progress being made there on the stabilization collar, it looks like they are beginning to inflate it.
And it looks like they're starting to unfold the front porch in order to get that into
the water here shortly and inflate that as well.
Again, more than 40 people out in the water right now.
And those Navy and NASA personnel have been in the water for now about four hours.
The reason why they had to get out so early is just to stage everything and actually here
on the ship when there are flight operations happening you can't have
anything else right just because a flight deck can be a dangerous place so they
just want to focus on planes coming and going from the ship so that's why they
wanted to get the boats in the water to make sure that they have all the time
they needed for the flight ops.
And then the same crew here out in the water, they will stay out in the water for a number
of hours after we recover the crew and get them back on the ship because then they have
to recover Orion.
All right that stabilization collar looking good around Orion.
We're now seeing some recovery personnel getting on to that collar.
Again, they need to further attach it to Orion to make sure that it can really prop up the
spacecraft.
It's basically lifting it up off of the water just a tad.
Again, so it's not so...
So it doesn't sway so much in the water there.
Now that front porch looks like it's nearly fully inflated as well.
You can see a much larger surface area.
So once the crew get out of Orion, they can stretch their legs a little bit on this front
porch, get some fresh air, and enjoy this beautiful day here on their home planet.
It appears teams now are about to connect the front porch to the
stabilization collar and at that point when both are secure we should soon see
astronauts come out of Orion.
All these views you see also being fed to the landing force operation center here on the
ship. Of course, it is very important for our recovery teams leading the mission to have
all the views that you're seeing as well. Again, listening to their communication loop
here on the ship, very quiet, which is a good thing. It means things are going pretty
phenomenally, meaning as expected.
Again, all this activity happening, just 3,000 yards away from the ship, so that means this
will be a very quick flight back on the helicopters for the crew.
Two, three minutes, and then we'll be back here on the ship.
Okay, saw a thumbs up from one of the personnel in the front porch.
It looks like they are now getting ready to deploy what they call the air rescue vest,
ARV.
And so this is the harness that each crew member will get into in order to be hoisted into
the helicopters.
Again, those helicopters hovering just about 40 feet above the front porch when they're
ready to pick up each crew member.
This is Mission Control Houston. Behind me, a fairly raucous scene as hundreds of flight
controllers have poured into the flight control room here.
This is reminiscent of the scene after the final shuttle
mission of STS-135, although that was the end of a program.
This is only the beginning of a program
with the textbook splashdown of integrity
in its four astronauts.
We're standing by for the crew to be extracted
from the spacecraft.
Entry Flight Director Rick Henfling invited all of these flight controllers who have contributed to this mission
to enter the flight control room, to have an opportunity to receive well wishes,
and to share the mutual glow that exists in the wake of a textbook mission for integrity
on the front screen here in Mission Control, a sign that says welcome home integrity,
taking humanity back to the moon going further and returning safely to Earth.
So, all of that jubilation, part of the post-splashdown activities, even as we await the crew being
extracted from the vehicle to be hoisted onto Navy helicopters for the trip back to
the USS John P. Murtha.
Once again here in Mission Control, this view of the Artemis Flight Control Room,
known as the White Flight Control Room.
This is the old shuttle flight control room.
And now is the home of Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.
Once again, quite a few flight controllers were invited in by entry flight director,
Rick Henfling to share in the jubilation, following the successful splashdown of integrity
that splashed down occurring an hour and 22 minutes ago as we stand by for the completion of the extraction of the crew
and ultimately they're hoisting onto Navy helicopters for a short flight back to the USS John P. Murtha.
Splashdown occurred at 7 0 7 and 27 seconds p.m. Central time.
I had an opportunity to talk to the head of flight dynamics Jeff Birch a moment or two ago.
He said the trajectory of integrity coming through the Earth's atmosphere was so precise.
They've never seen anything line up on a ground track like today's entry by integrity for its splashdown southwest of San Diego.
And the initial, you can hear it.
The first crew member is out of integrity.
We are expecting the other crew members momentarily to be extracted.
You may now have two crew members out.
Two crew members out, two to go.
We're about one hour from sunset out in the Pacific.
Everything continues to go well.
systems function perfectly during its entry back to Earth and Reed Wiseman,
the commander who will be last out of the vehicle, reported that all the crew
members were feeling very well.
You remember number three now, Al.
out.
And now standing by for the commander Reed Wiseman who will be last out of his ship.
Having in the Pacific under almost ideal conditions,
integrity spans 694,000 miles during its journey
from launch to splashdown.
And we now have Reed Wiseman out of the vehicle, all four crew members now out
of integrity.
Once again, all four crew members now on the front porch and the procedure to begin hoisting
them up to these two Navy helicopters hovering overhead will begin shortly.
This is mission control Houston.
The mission is over but the melody lingers on as the jubilation continues here in the flight control room.
We should be expecting NASA's Associate Administrator Amit Shatriya to be joining us shortly
for a short interview while the recovery operations continue out on the Pacific.
So we'll stand by for that.
And then we'll turn it back over to Megan Cruz aboard the USS John P. Murtha.
This is mission control Houston here in the Artemis flight control room.
A number of flight controllers basking in the glory of the successful end of this mission
that carried four astronauts around the moon on a lunar flyby and the first test flight
of Orion with crew members on board, splashed down occurring an hour and 32 minutes ago
after a flawless descent back in the Earth's atmosphere for the vehicle.
It's for crew members in good shape, simply enjoying their time right now on the front
porch as it were, the inflatable raft alongside of their integrity spacecraft.
We're expecting Amid Shatriya, the NASA Associate Administrator, to join us here momentarily
for a brief interview before we turn it back over to Megan Cruz aboard the USS John P.
Murtha, the recovery ship.
This is mission control Houston.
We're about an hour and 34 minutes since the textbook's
flashdown of integrity in the Pacific to bring home our
astronauts and with us now is Ahmed Shatria,
the NASA associate administrator.
Ahmed, a little bit of history made tonight,
a little bit of history made over the past few weeks.
Your thoughts as this team here basks in the glow of what
they just accomplished.
Yeah, Rob, we're here in the control center and it's
kind of overrun with a jubilant folks in the mission control
Houston as well as engineering and folks that just want to be
here part of it as we watch our crew get extracted from the
vehicle and you know my my thought is always always
always about these teams the team that's in the water right
now pulling the crew out the team here in Houston that
worked so hard over the last 10 days no sleep to get this
done you know we still have some work to do to get the
crew to the med bay here on the ship.
They all look great coming out.
So hopefully that won't be too long.
I think we saw the administrator on the boat too,
given his thanks to the Navy team on the Mertha,
which they're just an incredible group of sailors.
I was able to visit with them a couple of weeks ago.
And then if you pull it all the way back
to the workers and the folks that joined the rocket
at Michoud that made the heat shield tiles
that held together tonight,
that stacked the vehicle in Florida,
that integrated the vehicle in Denver,
that fired the engines in Stennis,
that fired the boosters in Promontory.
I mean, this is the entire team, you know,
coming together and being tested by the environment
that this machine went through.
And they did it right.
The work was good.
They did it right.
You've said in a number of briefings, of course,
and in other forums that this is just the first step.
The cadence has to step up
as the administrator has indicated.
Now it's a little early for the full report card
on how integrity did, but did this mission ultimately
from your eyes view exceed expectations?
Yeah, it absolutely did.
I mean, I was waiting to talk about this
until we're in the water and I think we still, again,
work to do to bring it in and really kind of go through it
bolt by bolt and see what we learned.
But I mean, so far, given what we learned during the mission
and given how we performed on asset, on entry,
I always think about energy in terms of the states
that you worry about the most.
And every time we put these machines
through these incredibly energetic states
that came through.
So I'm fairly confident that we made a big step tonight
to get us on the path towards the surface.
I think the path to the surface is open now.
You know, we do have to do all the work
and we'll make sure we talk about that
as clearly as we can.
We learned a few things during the mission,
but I have to tell you,
this was an incredible test of an incredible machine.
From an American psyche standpoint,
the Empire State Building was lit up
red light and blue tonight.
Our coverage was seen in baseball
stadiums around the major leagues.
How captivating was this experience
for the American people for the world, in fact,
as we return to the moon?
I have not been able to watch a lot of the coverage.
As we progress through the mission,
I will tell you just from my witness in Florida
before launch and then seeing the people's faces here
and then reading where I can about how things are going.
I think this has been a gift to the world from NASA.
NASA has given the world a gift proving to folks
all over the place, especially young people,
and that to me is what this is really about.
Young people, when they see what we can do
when we work together, when we have teams
that collaborate that it doesn't matter how hard
that the problems are, we can solve them.
I'm hopeful that Artemis too, as folks witness,
what we were able to do with this incredible crew,
this incredible team that we've birthed into the world,
scientists and engineers and artists
that have been inspired by this.
And even if they don't come work in the program,
which separately they should come work in the program
because the Lord knows we need the help,
but even if they don't wanna come work in the program,
hopefully they grow up to recognize
they can do amazing things when they work together
and contribute to society and be good citizens
and really change the way, you know,
the challenges that are coming in the world
are overcomeable if we work together like this.
And one final question, you know, flying to the moon, we did it, we've done it again this
past week and a half or so, but the engineering that went behind the design of this mission
and the precision, the pinpoint precision of this vehicle entering that entry corridor,
it's almost mind boggling.
Yeah, it is incredible when you think about the energies involved and the uncertainties
involved that we are, you know, when we inserted the vehicle into orbit it was 99.2 percent down
the middle when we dropped the vehicle right on top of the fleet here, you know, our guys knew
exactly where to go but the guidance was perfect. You know, and it's interesting,
I've got this question a lot over the last few weeks about, you know, we did this,
we did this before, 53 years ago, and you know that, I think, I mean, it is a reasonable
thing to contemplate, like what, you know, what's going on since then, and what I tell you is
You know, when we did Apollo, which again, the more we learn about what they did,
the more magical it seems what they were able to accomplish given the technology
and the learnings that they had.
But when we did Apollo, the architects of Apollo, you know, Gilbert, Seaman, Van Braun, Mueller,
they, what they really, really wanted to do, you know, as they were contemplating what it meant
to expand their range of action to the lunar surface.
What they wanted to do was learn how to live and work in space for a long time.
They wanted to do that first before they were confident
that they could expand their range of action to the moon.
Now, of course, the politics of the time
and the mission at the time was different.
And so they had to go straight to the moon
and bring people home.
And then after that, the program kind of lost its momentum.
But, you know, after that, NASA kept
moving along those paths, right?
So we recognized during Apollo that reusability
was going to be important.
We spent a lot of money on those machines.
And we spent a lot of money on these machines here.
But we recognized that reusability was important,
which is why we built a winged space
a plane called Space Shuttle, and then we used that reusable machine to build a space
station, and we learned for 25 years how to live and work in space and have been able
to develop technologies that can enable exploration. So really, what I think is now, 53 years
later, we're at the point where the architects of Apollo would have been pleased that we're
now ready to actually go back to the moon and go back to stay because we've learned
all the things we needed to learn.
There's a lot of people pleased here tonight, and we really thank you for joining us on it.
Ahmed Shathria, NASA's Associate Administrator, as we begin to hoist the crew onto the helicopters
to head back to the recovery ship.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Congratulations, Ahmed.
Thank you.
This is Mission Control Houston with the crew members now beginning to be hoisted aboard
the Navy helicopters.
Let's go to Megan Cruz aboard the USS John P. Murtha who will take it from here.
Hey, Rob, yeah, back on the bow of the ship here, we are seeing the helicopters circling
Orion, the first one there, having just completed picking up the first astronaut.
to now hovering just 40 feet above the front porch, lowering a recovery
specialist out of the helicopter. That person will touch down in the front
porch just there.
The crew members already outfitted with a harness that will allow them to
quickly attach to the hoisting device.
Look at the power of those blades, throwing water out at the center there, the
front porch, with now three astronauts and the recovery specialists.
Again, crews already outfitted with a harness vest.
And here we go.
Second astronaut now off the front porch getting hoisted into the second helicopter.
That helicopter will now hover just a distance away
to give room for the first helicopter to come back
and pick up the third astronaut.
As we wait for that helicopter to come back,
make its way back around.
Just wanna mention that the president of the United States
called our NASA administrator today
while he was on the ship,
just minutes after we interviewed him live on our coverage
and congratulated him and NASA
on this history-making moment tonight.
Helicopter one again hovering 40 feet over the front porch.
We will soon see another recovery specialist
getting lowered onto the front porch.
Wow, imagine sitting on that front porch, the wind, the water, but again the recovery
team determines that a helicopter flight back to the ship here would be safer, faster, and
more comfortable for our crew who just completed a 10-day mission around the Moon.
astronaut in the air, getting hoisted quickly back into the first helicopter now.
That first helicopter now on its way back to the ship here. We will soon see it land in just
a few minutes. Again, all this action happening just 3,000 yards away from us. So a very quick
flight back to the flight deck.
Now the only person left on the front porch, Commander Reed Wiseman.
That second helicopter now making its way back over to the front porch.
Here it comes.
Making its final approach here.
The last astronaut, Commander Reed Weisman, now off the front porch and almost into the
second helicopter.
Both now on their way back to the ship where we are, the USS John P. Murtha, just west
of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.
Exciting to see our four crew members minutes away from landing on the flight deck here
on the recovery ship.
150 people on this ship, excited, ready, anxious,
looking forward to welcoming this crew aboard.
Watching them now with our own eyes,
close to the ship here.
Hearing them begin to hover on the flight deck, which is just across from us here on the bow.
First helicopter coming in.
and wheels down. Wheels down of the first helicopter, carrying two of our Artemis II crew.
Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Cook.
Heal a one on deck reported on the recovery loop,
again the mission audio loops,
that the recovery team are using here to communicate with one another.
And an announcement just made on the ship, integrity incoming.
Two more helicopters on their way to the flight deck, one carrying the crew, the other one of our imagery helicopters, again kudos to our imagery and aerial teams for giving us these beautiful views of history and the making.
set amid a gorgeous, soon to be sunset here in the Pacific Ocean.
Second helicopter.
Making its approach of the flight deck.
Plenty of people here on the bow with their cell phones out, filming this moment.
Some impressive flying here by the Navy.
as we are seconds away from wheels down.
And there you go.
We now have all four Artemis II crew members on the USS John P. Murtha.
I'm sure they're happy to be out of the water.
and on this recovery ship with again 550 people on board
ready to welcome them home.
But first as we've been saying throughout the broadcast just making sure the crew feel good.
We reported that they were feeling good when they were in Orion but those were just initial
quick verbal assessments of how they're feeling.
Their destination tonight, the medical bay here on the ship, right after we power down
the helicopters here.
team on the flight deck, working quickly from methodically, waiting for just one more helicopter
to touch down.
Very limited personnel here on the flight deck as that third helicopter touches down.
The ship is in the flight quarters, stand clear of weather next apple frame 095, we're
no cover, stop sign through an article, sovereign design, hold all trash and garbage on station,
flight quarters.
While just a few folks on the flight deck itself, there are plenty more on some upper
decks.
I've seen some of our views, a very hot crowd over there.
Announcements being made over the ship's loudspeaker system reminding folks to stay
clear of operational areas like the flight deck so that teams can work quickly to get
the crew off of the helicopters and into the medical bay.
Splashdown today, 5.06 p.m. Pacific time.
We are within two hours of that splashdown time
And already we have all four crew members on the flight deck of the USS John P. Murtha.
Again, crew waiting before getting out for the helicopters to completely shut down.
Safety, of course, very important to NASA and the U.S. military.
So we'll wait just a couple of minutes here before we start seeing crew members walk
off the helicopters one by one.
I'm ready.
All right, and now here we see pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Cook
sitting on the edge of one of the helicopters looking in great spirits, that familiar smile
and laugh from Victor. I can see it from here. Christina, I'm sure feeling the same way.
Just blocked a little bit by our camera here, but we'll see her here shortly.
A photographer taking their pictures. Victor saluting folks on the flight deck.
They look like they're in great spirits. Happy to be home, I'm sure.
If you're sitting at home, I hope you too are wondering what would you want to ask them
if you got a chance to talk to them because that is what I'm thinking about, getting the
opportunity to talk to or ask questions of these four astronauts who just made history
as the first crew to return to the moon since 1972.
Oh, there we see Christina there also smiling,
finally peering out, waving at the cameras.
Hello to you too, Christina, yes.
Welcome back.
Welcome, welcome home a loud speaker announcement on the ship saying welcome home integrity
Victor in great spirits I can't see who he's talking to but I kind of think that he might be talking to his other two crew members
Shouting from across the flight deck congratulations to one another
And so now we see some Navy personnel walking up to the helicopter.
This is again the first helicopter carrying pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist
Christina Cook.
to have taken off their helmets now.
Some pictures, video, to catalog this historic moment.
A beautiful sunset just behind them here in the Pacific Ocean.
golden hour. These pictures will be beautiful.
Now we see NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. He is on the flight deck as well as flight
surgeon Rick Schuring walking over to Victor and Christina first. We saw the administrator
walk over to the other helicopter which is carrying commander Reed Weissman and
Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen.
We heard from Rick earlier in the broadcast.
Again, he said he's going to be out there on the flight deck
to do another initial assessment of the crew,
ask them how they're feeling, anything bothering them.
But again, from what I'm seeing, they look like they're in great spirits
and feeling pretty good for folks who just traveled 695,000
miles from Florida to the moon and now here
to the Pacific Ocean.
We're now seeing NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman walking across the flight deck.
He had been talking to Reed and Jeremy now approaching Victor and Christina.
A hug from Victor.
A hug from Christina.
What a moment that we're getting to experience together.
I'm sure congratulatory words.
We got to speak to the administrator live
on this broadcast as well.
And he said the kid in him right now, giddy, absolutely giddy
at what we were able to accomplish today.
We're turning them home safely and in good spirits
after a 10 day mission around the moon.
And here we go, we're seeing Jeremy
Walking, waving across the flight deck now on his way to the medical bay.
It's a short walk, less than a minute.
Again, that's why the recovery team decided to use helicopters to get them on the flight deck for that short walk to medical bay.
And now on the flight deck, we see the chief of the astronaut office, Scott Tingle, Rick
Schering, switching places.
He's going over to the other helicopter.
Big hugs, big hugs from Victor Cristina to Scott.
Again, a gorgeous sunset setting the stage for this recovery tonight.
All right, and now here we are, Christina, making her way, looking thankful, grateful,
happy to be home.
You can see she's looking up again, lots of people, just a few levels up off the flight
deck, welcoming her home.
Scott holding the door like a gentleman, but back on his way to the other crew still on
the flight deck. So still on the flight deck. Victor Glover and Reed Wiseman. It looks like
Victor will be the next one headed to Merkle Bay.
More hugs, more hugs.
He's a hugger.
Victor looking good as he walks across the flight deck.
NASA administrator applauding.
Victor applauding for all the folks on the ship with him
who played a role in their safe return today.
And finally, just one Artemis II crew member
Left on the flight deck, Commander Reed Weissman.
A applause from the group there on the flight deck,
I'm sure as well as on the level just above them packed with people.
Reed looking good as he takes his steps towards the Medical Bay.
CR4 Artemis II crew members back on the ship.
Again, now they will head into Medical Bay, where they will be assessed by flight surgeons
from both NASA as well as the Canadian Space Agency, a more in-depth assessment.
When they get to Medical Bay, they will each have their own nurse.
They will be helped out of their suits and then again we'll check to see that they're
feeling good, make sure it's not just adrenaline, but that they are feeling good from their long
journey back from the moon.
shot of that sunset, illuminating our flight deck.
All right and now with our astronauts safely on board, I want to welcome on Artemis Recovery
director Lily Villarreal. Lily, I don't know how you must be feeling right now.
Ecstatic relief? Of course we still have to bring the capsule into the
wall deck of the ship but this is a major milestone. To have the crew here on the
ship and in Med Bay, you know our team has been preparing and working really
hard and I'm just so proud of them all. Everything went very well just as
plan. Our teammates in Houston, the flight control team was just amazing. We were able to
have great conversations and communications about everything. And I didn't know what else to say.
I'm just so excited. It's such a wonderful feeling to get to this point. Again, we still have to
get the capsule, but this is huge for all of us in land recovery. And I couldn't do this without
my team and of course the full support of the U.S. military. There's going to be lots of you know
high fives when we get the capsule back in and I'm so happy that the crew's doing well. Ryan's
doing well and you know thank you for you know for everybody watching. Yeah yeah it was great to
watch the crew come back to the ship with you. How are you feeling when you were seeing them
looking so happy, so happy to be home and feeling really good.
You know, the funny thing is that we had video of them from inside the Orion vehicle.
They were like that from the beginning. When we opened the hatch,
they were already out of their seats having a good time waiting for us to open the hatch.
And they opened the hatch and of course we did the first medical assessment. Everybody was doing very well.
And they were just having such a great time with the medical team that was inside the capsule.
I think they were all taking selfies with the phones that they have, probably talking about what they saw.
And it was just smiles all around. They were having such a great time.
And then we put them on the front porch when we were ready to put them on the front porch.
And again, you can see they were just so ecstatic to be home and talking to everybody.
So we were very happy to see all of that in the control room of the alfac.
How remarkable is that again if we think about their journey the 695,000 mile journey
around the moon and back coming back at 30 times faster than the speed of sound.
I mean how remarkable is that that they are in such good spirits?
I mean this is an amazing crew. I think you guys have seen it for the past 10 days.
They're wonderful people and we're so happy that they brought us along on that ride
and I can't wait to see all the additional videos and pictures that they
have that you know we'll get a hold of now that they're back on the ground and I
can't wait to hear how you know a little more than what we saw on the press
briefings from the crew about what they saw it's just fantastic you know
some of my favorite people do on this ten days was a science team and how
excited they were and so we this is exactly how we feel in the land
new coverage team when the science team went, oh my goodness, when they heard all the discussions
about the moon.
This is exactly how we feel now in the lunar recovery team.
We're so ecstatic.
Again, we have to recover the capsule.
I want to make sure we don't forget about Orion.
Lily's all about business.
She's thinking about what's next.
But, yeah, speaking of these 10 days, I mean, we have been along for the journey
with them, live with them 24-7 for 10 days and just really seeing the engagement
that we've gotten from around the world.
What do you hope people take away from this mission?
I think that's fantastic.
So, you know, my story was that I went to the King Space Center.
I'm actually, I was born in Columbia.
I was 10 years old when we moved to the United States.
But when I was seven, my family took me
to the visitor center.
And that's when I learned about Apollo.
And we went to the moon and I learned about astronauts.
And that story was what really fueled me
to want to do STEM and want to be an astronaut and I think that this Artemis
program is going to do exactly what you know what girls you know my age back then
a seven young people right now girls and and even like young men obviously but
we want to empower people to know that you can do this right if you want to come
and work for NASA. If I did it, they can do it. And Artemis program is just going to inspire
everybody. And I'm so happy about that. Like Apollo inspired me. Thank you so much, Lily. Really
appreciate you being here. As you said, still a lot of work to do. Five to six more hours to
recover Orion that's still out in the water. So I'll let you get back to it. But you had
beautiful words to say again. We hope that this inspires people. We hope that you come
and join us at NASA and accomplish great things for us in the future. Back to you, Rob.
Thank you, Megan, and safe sailing out there in the Pacific. Here in Mission Control, it
is now all quiet. The team of flight controllers and all their support personnel have left
the room to enjoy the aftermath of a textbook touchdown by integrity that splashed down
in the Pacific right on target to complete this historic flyby
of the moon, the Artemis II mission.
With that, we'll wrap up our coverage for the night
and point you to a post-Splashdown news conference
in 15 minutes at 9.35 p.m. central time, 10.35 p.m. eastern time,
where managers will discuss the return
of the integrity spacecraft and the completion
of the Artemis II mission.
With that, we'll wrap up our coverage for this evening and historic mission in the history books.
This is Mission Control Houston.
Main chute deployed.
And we have three good main chutes.
Houston, integrity, slashed down, sending post landing command now.
Splashdown confirmed.
Stop the splashdown waiting on VLDR.
Splashdown confirmed at 7.07 p.m. Central Time, 5.07 p.m. Pacific Time.
you