April 9, 2026

HOUSTON—When Artemis II crew members wake up at 11:35 a.m. ET on April 9, they will begin their last full day in space and start preparing the cabin for their return home.

NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, continue to fall back to Earth on a free return trajectory aboard their Orion spacecraft, Integrity, targeting a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at about 8:05 p.m. ET on April 10.

After eight jaw-dropping days blazing farther from Earth than any humans in history, Artemis II’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are now on the home stretch, with their Orion capsule Integrity set to slam back through the atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean shortly after 8 p.m. ET on April 10. The trailblazing crew, the first in more than 50 years to leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon, has already made space history with lunar views no one had ever seen, the first deep-space view of a full solar eclipse, and the first direct call between a crew in deep space and astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Now, as they wake up on April 9 for their last full day in space, the countdown to reentry is on.

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