The four astronauts are set to touch down on Earth and conclude the 10-day mission after completing moon flyby
The number of human beings who have travelled to the moon and returned safely to Earth will grow to 28 on Friday night when Nasa’s Orion capsule containing four Artemis II astronauts will glide gently to a Pacific Ocean splashdown beneath three giant parachutes.
The scheduled 5.07pm PT landing (1.07am BST Saturday) off the coast of San Diego will mark the end of a 10-day lunar odyssey that made the three Americans and one Canadian the first people to travel beyond lower Earth orbit since the final mission of the Apollo program in December 1972.
It will also signal a new beginning for the US space agency and its international partners, after a highly successful test flight around the far side of the moon that at first observation appears to have met every one of its objectives.
Nasa has proven it can once again send humans safely to and from cislunar space, the void between Earth and its nearest celestial body, and will build on the knowledge gained to further propel the Artemis program towards a scheduled crewed moon landing in 2028, 56 years after the last.
