Artemis moonship returns to Earth with picture-perfect Pacific Ocean splashdown
The successful return to Earth marks a major milestone in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon.
www.cbsnews.comArtemis 1 landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guadalupe Island, near Baja California, Mexico, during its reentry and splashdown in December 2022. NASA later used the same general Pacific splashdown area for Artemis II’s expected return in 2026, southwest of San Diego, for recovery operations.[3][5]
Key points:
- Artemis 1 (uncrewed) splashdown target: Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island, about 200 miles west of Baja California.[5]
- Artemis II aims to splash down in the same broad Pacific zone, near the San Diego area, to allow efficient recovery by U.S. Navy assets.[3]
- Actual splashdown timing for Artemis II was planned for around 8:07 p.m. EDT on the target date, in the Pacific off the coast of California.[1][3]
If you’d like, I can pull the latest primary sources or provide a brief map of the splashdown zones.