The Stars My Destination: Artemis I Splashdown

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Destination Moon
11 December 2022: The Orion Crew Module separated from the European Service Module & conducted a non-ballistic atmospheric entry, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico's Baja California peninsula, & was recovered by the U.S.S. Portland. A principal objective of Artemis I was to test the Orion's heat shield. An Orion's heat shield was previously tested during the return from low Earth orbit at the end of Exploration Flight Test-1, eight years earlier on 5 December 2014.

Evaluation of all phases of the Artemis I mission is ongoing: the Kennedy Space Center's ground operations, procedures, & equipment; the Johnson Space Center's flight operations, procedures, & equipment; the performance of the Space Launch System (S.L.S.) launch vehicle; & the Orion spacecraft, both the Crew Module which was fished out of the Pacific by the crew of the Portland & the European Service Module which burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. To paraphrase Doctor Joe Kerwin, Skylab 2 astronaut & Apollo 13 capsule communicator (CAPCOM): Farewell, E.S.M., & we thank you.

The S.L.S. core stage for Artemis II, the first crewed flight, is scheduled to be transported from N.A.S.A.'s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as March 2023. The launch vehicles for Artemis III, the first crewed Moon landing, & Artemis IV, the second crewed Moon landing & a Gateway space station construction flight, are already being built.

Artemis I was only the beginning. "We are going!"

Bonus! Moonshot Song o' the Day: Artemis I
The Phenomenauts, "Welcome Back" from Re-Entry (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Artemis I
Liftoff & the Road to Artemis I
Artemis I Launch
Artemis I Orbit

Ex Luna, scientia.