Watch NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft return to Earth for free online today - Space.com

NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft volition instrumentality to Earth connected Sunday (Dec. 11) aft astir a period successful space, and you tin ticker the homecoming live. 

Artemis 1's uncrewed Orion capsule is scheduled to splash down successful the Pacific Ocean disconnected the seashore of Baja California Sunday astir 12:40 p.m. EST (1740 GMT). 

You tin ticker unrecorded sum of Orion's reentry present astatine Space.com courtesy of NASA, oregon directly via the abstraction agency (opens successful caller tab). Coverage volition commencement astatine 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT). 

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More: NASA's Artemis 1 satellite mission: Live updates

Orion launched atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket connected Nov. 16, kicking disconnected the highly anticipated Artemis 1 mission. 

The capsule slipped into lunar orbit connected Nov. 25, past near connected Dec. 1. Four days later, Orion fired its main engine successful a 3.5-minute pain — its longest of the ngo — during a adjacent lunar flyby to caput backmost to its location planet.

The 25.5-day-long Artemis 1 ngo volition extremity connected Sunday, 50 years to the time that Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt touched down connected the lunar surface. The duo departed connected Dec. 14, 1972, and nary humans person been backmost to the moon since.

If each goes according to plan, Orion volition deed Earth's atmosphere implicit the Pacific Ocean astatine astir 12:20 p.m. EST (1720 GMT) connected Sunday portion traveling 25,000 mph (40,000 kph). This tremendous velocity volition make a batch of friction; Orion's vigor shield volition person to grip temperatures up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 degrees Celsius) — about fractional arsenic blistery arsenic the aboveground of the sun.

The capsule volition bounce disconnected the precocious ambiance concisely and past travel backmost down, similar a stone skipping crossed the aboveground of a pond. After this skip, Orion volition descend done the ambiance nether parachutes, splashing down disconnected the seashore of Baja California astatine astir 12:40 p.m. EST (1740 GMT). A U.S. Navy ship, the USS Portland, volition beryllium waiting successful the vicinity to retrieve the spacecraft and haul it to larboard successful San Diego.

Reentry volition statesman implicit the unfastened Pacific, acold disconnected the seashore of South America, and Orion volition caput northbound from there. The remoteness of the capsule's path, combined with the timing — that is, during daylight hours — make this reentry a precise hard people for observers connected the ground, adjacent those adjacent to the splashdown site.

"Is anybody going to beryllium capable to spot that disconnected Baja?" Artemis 1 Flight Director Judd Frieling said during a property league connected Thursday (Dec. 8). "There's ever a chance, but we're beauteous acold disconnected the seashore there, truthful I uncertainty it — unless you're retired determination successful a boat, 100 miles offshore oregon so."

Nearby observers whitethorn get aural grounds that reentry has begun, however.

"You're much apt to perceive the sonic roar arsenic the conveyance approaches than anything," Artemis 1 Mission Manager Mike Sarafin said during Thursday's briefing.

Artemis 1 is simply a shakeout cruise for the SLS, Orion and their associated crushed systems. If everything goes good connected Sunday, NASA tin statesman gearing up for Artemis 2, which volition nonstop astronauts astir the satellite successful 2024.

Artemis 3 is scheduled to enactment boots down adjacent the lunar southbound rod successful 2025 oregon 2026. Future missions successful NASA's Artemis program volition physique a probe basal successful that region, which is thought to beryllium affluent successful h2o ice.

The bureau wants to person to this outpost up and moving by the extremity of the 2020s. NASA plans to usage the cognition gained from these satellite efforts to assistance get astronauts to Mars by the precocious 2030s oregon aboriginal 2040s.

Mike Wall is the writer of "Out There (opens successful caller tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a publication astir the hunt for alien life. Follow him connected Twitter @michaeldwall (opens successful caller tab). Follow america connected Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens successful caller tab) or Facebook (opens successful caller tab).