Artemis Moonship Returns To Earth With Picture-Perfect Pacific Ocean Splashdown

CBS Los Angeles

December 12, 2022

NASA's Artemis 1 moonship returned to Earth Sunday, slamming into the upper atmosphere at more than 24,000 mph and enduring a 5,000-degree re-entry inferno before settling to a picture perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean to close out a 25-day 1.4-million-mile test flight to the moon and back.

Descending under three huge parachutes, the unpiloted 9-ton Orion capsule gently hit the water 200 miles west of Baja California at 12:40 p.m. EST, 20 minutes after encountering the first traces of the discernible atmosphere 76 miles up.

"I'm overwhelmed. This is an extraordinary day," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "It's historic, because we are now going back into deep space with a new generation."

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