NASA's Artemis 1 Orion Capsule Returns To Earth: Splashdown

After 26 days in space and 1.4 million miles of travel, the uncrewed Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California at about 1740 UTC. It's three main parachutes deployed at 1737 UTC, slowing the spacecraft's descent.

During its travel back, shortly after entering Earth's atmosphere, Orion left again, bouncing off the upper layers of air like a rock skipping off the surface of a pond. This "skip maneuver," which no human-rated spacecraft had ever performed before, allows the capsule to cover greater distances and land more precisely during reentry, NASA officials have said.

"Splashdown! From Tranquility Base to Taurus-Littrow to the tranquil waters of the Pacific, the latest chapter of NASA's journey to the moon comes to a close: Orion back on Earth," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said during the agency's livestream of the event on Sunday. (Tranquility Base and Taurus-Littrow were the landing sites of Apollo 11 and Apollo 17, the first and final Apollo moon landing missions, respectively.)

 U.S. Navy ship, the USS Portland, was waiting in the area, as NASA teams work to recover Orion. The Portland will haul spacecraft aboard and ferry it to port in San Diego, a journey that will take about a day, NASA officials have said. From there, the capsule will travel to Kennedy Space Center KSC, for in-depth inspections and analysis.

Artemis 1 mission which launched November 16, from KSC, was a shakeout cruise for Orion, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and their associated ground systems, as NASA gears up for the first crewed flight, a round-the-moon effort in 2024.

During its time in space, Orion performed a powered flyby of the of moon on November 21.

WATCH Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California