24,000 mph Re-entry… Artemis II Faces 5,000° Temperature

As Artemis II heads back to Earth, crew is staking their lives on the heat shield. The Artemis II mission is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on April 11, 2026, at approximately 5:37 a.m. IST. When the Artemis II Orion crew capsule returns to Earth later today after flying around the moon, it will hit the discernible atmosphere some 75 miles above the Pacific Ocean at a blistering 24,000 mph fast enough to fly from Los Angeles to New York in about 6 minutes. Seconds after the Artemis II Orion crew capsule hits Earth's atmosphere on Friday, temperatures across its heat shield will climb to some 5,000 degrees. The four astronauts on board are counting on the heat shield to keep them safe all the way through the peak heating zone to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of California.