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The San Diego coast was set to be the landing site; however, after evaluating the weather, NASA decided on a landing site in the Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island.
SAN DIEGO — NASA has selected a new splashdown landing site for the Orion spacecraft.
The San Diego coast was set to be the landing site; however, after evaluating the weather, NASA decided on a landing site in the Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island.
“The mission management team met with the entry flight director and NASA recovery director as the planned splashdown of Orion Sunday, Dec. 11, is now about 72 hours away. They evaluated the weather and decided on a landing site in the Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island, south of the primary landing area. Watch the reentry preview briefing for more details,” according to NASA’s website.
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NASA TV coverage of Artemis I’s return to Earth begins at 11 a.m. EST on Sunday, Dec. 11. The Orion spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:40 p.m. near Guadalupe Island.
“At present, we are on track to have a fully successful mission with some bonus objectives that we’ve achieved along the way,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager. “On entry day, we will realize our priority one objective, which is to demonstrate the vehicle at lunar re-entry conditions, as well as our priority three objectives, which is to retrieve the spacecraft.”
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