Artemis I returns to Earth following uncrewed mission to the moon
Welcome back, Artemis!
Yesterday, NASA’s Artemis I moon mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja, California at 12:40 PM EST. Fittingly, the splashdown of this uncrewed mission occurred exactly on the 50th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 17, the last time humans landed on the moon.
Artemis I’s voyage to the moon began with a middle-of-the-night launch on Nov. 16. The mission marked the first flight of the massive ‘Space Launch System,’ NASA’s first moon rocket since the retirement of the Saturn V rocket five decades earlier.
Artemis I was also the test flight for the new Orion crew capsule, NASA’s first moon capsule since the Apollo era. The Orion capsule was the only part of the Artemis I that remained as it splashed down in the Pacific 26 days after liftoff.
The success of Artemis I paves the way for Artemis II. Artemis II will also be a lunar-orbit mission, but with a key difference: there will be astronauts onboard Artemis II. NASA is looking at 2024 for Artemis II; if that mission goes well, Artemis III, circa 2026, will return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
The return of Artemis I caps an extraordinary year in astronomy and space science! And there's no better place to stay updated than at LSC; we're committed to incorporating breaking stories on space and astronomy into our planetarium programming as soon as they happen. In this case, we showed the actual splashdown of Artemis I live in the dome at 12:35 - 12:45 PM on Sunday, Dec. 11, before starting the 12:45 PM planetarium show "Wonders of the Webb Telescope and Beyond." The footage was then incorporated immediately into the all-live show.
Make a plan to visit LSC's planetarium, the biggest in America! Click here to see what's playing and get tickets now.
