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Artemis II crew prepare for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere 0%
By CBC News Staff0%
4/10/2026, 8:59:46 PM
Topics: Artemis Program, Lunar Mission
BS Summary: This article contains 8 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Anecdotal, and Optimism Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 22.4% saturation with 262 hits. Analysis detected 546 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,170 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 0% and a BS Rank of 0% (0 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 100.00% of the article peer group.
Artemis II crew prepare for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere
Crew and service modules separate as Orion steered toward Earth's atmosphere
The Latest
The Artemis II crew is on their way home, with splashdown planned for just after 8 p.m.
ET in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego.
The Orion's crew module has separated from the spacecraft's service module as the astronauts prepare for their descent to Earth.
The crew has conducted one final burn, called the crew module raise burn, and completed a number of roll manoeuvres to prepare for their descent.
The capsule will reach speeds of nearly 40,000 km/h as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, putting the spacecraft's heat shield to the test.
The historic 10-day Artemis II mission sent the four astronauts farther from Earth than any humans had gone before, beating the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
You can watch CBC News Network's special coverage in the video at the top of this page.
Updates
April 10
One last, 19-second burn to tweak the capsule's position
Rhianna Schmunk
6 minutes ago
The crew has completed the final raise burn to adjust the capsule's angle in order to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at the correct trajectory.
The astronauts have also finished a series of roll manoeuvres to ensure the capsule doesn't collide with the discarded ESM.
The first of the final milestones is now complete
10 minutes ago
The crew module has separated from the ESM, which propelled the astronauts toward the moon and kept them alive during their mission.
The heat shield is now exposed for re-entry.
Module's role is a reminder of multi-national effort
Anand Ram
17 minutes ago
We've already mentioned the crew module's planned separation from the European Service Module (ESM), one of the first critical steps to this splashdown process.
It also happens to be a key moment in understanding how many hands it took to put this mission together.
The ESM, which was built by the European Space Agency and its partner, Airbus Defence and Space, has provided the crew with electricity, propulsion, temperature control, air and water for their entire journey.
Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says it's a reminder of collaboration across partners to help this historic mission happen.
"In amongst a time of strife and uncertainty, it's wonderful to have multiple countries — it's a European service module, a Canadian on board, Americans and people working together to better understand the universe," Hadfield told CBC News this morning.
Wiseman can be heard confirming with Houston that all four members of the crew are now "suited and seated."
The crew is around 8,600 kilometres from Earth.
20 minutes ago
They're not diapers, they're maximum absorbency garments, OK?
Nicole Mortillaro
27 minutes ago
We know about the toilet fiasco on this mission.
But now the toilet is all sealed up and the astronauts are in their spacesuits.
So … what if they really have to go?
(I mean, I might pee a little if I was entering Earth's atmosphere at 40,000 km/h.)
The answer is simple: diapers.
When NASA conducted a media tour at its Johnson Space Center last September, I got an amazing look behind the scenes and at everything they do to prepare for missions.
I even went to mission control.
Bucket list: check!
One of the things they showed us was what the astronauts were going to wear, including their "maximum absorbency garments," which are, basically, adult diapers.
The astronauts wear them during launch and re-entry.
Why are their suits orange?
34 minutes ago
No more khakis and navy blue tops.
The astronauts are back in their custom re-entry suits, officially known as the Orion Crew Survival System Suit (OCSSS) .
And the orange colour has a purpose.
Known as "international orange," it's a very specific shade that is easy for recovery crews to see in case the astronauts need to exit the Orion capsule and enter the water.
It's a little far from where they hope to splash down, but the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco would match their suits perfectly — it's also painted in international orange .
We're about an hour away from splashdown
40 minutes ago
With around an hour to go until splashdown, the crew is expected to complete the first of their major re-entry milestones at 7:33 p.m ET.
The Earth is now looming large in the astronauts' field of view as the mission moves along on schedule.
Wiseman's daughters 'super thankful' crew named crater after their mom
48 minutes ago
Bill Wiseman said the commander's teenage daughters had no idea the Artemis II crew had plans to name a lunar crater after their mother Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
"We saw Reid's daughters grow up.
We saw them go through some very challenging times and just to have the crew step back and honour Carroll, I thought it was really special.
I know his daughters both really loved it," Bill said of his nieces Ellie and Katherine.
"It was an emotional moment for everyone.
I think [the girls] were, again, super thankful to Jeremy [Hansen] and the crew for coming up with that idea and making it happen on this mission.
So, I think 'thankful' and 'grateful' is the most emotion I can express."
Wiseman's brother says he's 'thrilled' the crew is headed home
53 minutes ago
No one is more eager to see the astronauts on the ground than their families.
Wiseman's brother and fellow naval officer, Bill Wiseman, said he and his two nieces are counting down the minutes until the mission commander can tell them about his achievements in person.
"I personally am thrilled to see this mission coming to a close.
Unbelievably solid execution," Bill Wiseman told CBC News.
"Technically, even spiritually, just the way the crew has been able to charm the world with a little bit of levity and some fantastic photography, and just really getting out there and reigniting the explorer gene in most folks.
I'm super excited and proud of what these guys have done."
Mission highlight: Crew name crater after Wiseman's late wife
57 minutes ago
There was one particularly emotional moment during the mission.
In a message to mission control in Houston, Hansen suggested naming a moon crater Integrity, after the name the crew gave the Orion capsule; and that another be named in honour of Wiseman's wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
"A number of years ago we started this journey, our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one," Hansen said, before describing the location of the crater through tears.
"It's a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call that Carroll."
Later, Wiseman said his crewmates had raised the idea while they were in quarantine before launch.
"That was an emotional moment for me," the mission commander told reporters.
"I said, 'Absolutely, I would love that' ... but I can't give the speech.
I can't give the talk."
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