Artemis II Prepares for Reentry

As the Orion spacecraft nears the end of its lunar voyage, the crew is reflecting on a mission that has broken human spaceflight distance records.

The final phase of the journey is considered the most dangerous, as the capsule must survive a hypersonic reentry into Earth's atmosphere at speeds of 24,000 mph.

NASA engineers are closely monitoring the spacecraft's heat shield, which was redesigned following issues during the uncrewed Artemis I test.

This mission marks humanity's first crewed lunar flight in over half a century and is a critical step toward future moon landings.