At around 8.07 am this morning Malaysia time, the Integrity space capsule of the Artemis II mission has safely returned to Earth 10 days after its launch from Cape Canaveral, United States. This mission succeeded in becoming the first since 1972 that humans have visited the moon again and set a new record for the farthest journey ever made by humans from Earth. It traveled about 406,771 km from Earth, breaking the record of 400,171 km from Earth set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970
The Integrity space capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California. As they all re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, the outside of the capsule reached a temperature of 2,760 °C or about half the temperature of the sun. The crew consisting of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are currently still inside Integrity with the crew of the USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) starting the process of checking their health before they are evacuated.
With Artemis II successfully completed, NASA is now focusing on the Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2027. Artemis III was originally intended to be a human return to the Moon, but issues with the landing system being developed by SpaceX caused the mission to be postponed to Artemis IV in early 2028.
The Artemis III mission has been transformed into a mission to test systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit in preparation for the Artemis IV landing. Connectivity and docking tests with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin will be conducted. Integrated life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suit, will also be conducted on the Artemis III mission.
