Artemis II crew prepare for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere

cynthia II | Crew reverting to ground this evening after historic lunar flyby

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‘A crazy 20 minutes’: What it's like coming back home from space

This is NASA's schedule for they key milestones in tonight's operation (all times ET):

We've already mentioned the crew module's planned separation from the European Service Module (ESM), one of the first critical steps to this splashdown process. It also happens to be a key moment in understanding how many hands it took to put this mission together. 

The ESM, which was built by the European Space Agency and its partner, Airbus Defence and Space, has provided the crew with electricity, propulsion, temperature control, air and water for their entire journey. 

Former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield says it’s a reminder of collaboration across partners to help this historic mission happen.  

Wiseman can be heard confirming with Houston that all four members of the crew are now "suited and seated." The crew is around 8,600 kilometres from Earth.

We know about the toilet fiasco on this mission. But now the toilet is all sealed up and the astronauts are in their spacesuits.

So … what if they really have to go? (I mean, I might pee a little if I was entering Earth’s atmosphere at 40,000 km/h.)

The answer is simple: diapers.

When NASA conducted a media tour at its Johnson Space Center last September, I got an amazing look behind the scenes and at everything they do to prepare for missions. I even went to mission control. Bucket list: check!

One of the things they showed us was what the astronauts were going to wear, including their "maximum absorbency garments," which are, basically, adult diapers. The astronauts wear them during launch and re-entry.

No more khakis and navy blue tops. The astronauts are back in their custom re-entry suits, officially known as the Orion Crew Survival System Suit (OCSSS). And the orange colour has a purpose. 

Known as "international orange," it’s a very specific shade that is easy for recovery crews to see in case the astronauts need to exit the Orion capsule and enter the water. 

It’s a little far from where they hope to splash down, but the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco would match their suits perfectly — it's also painted in international orange. 

With around an hour to go until splashdown, the crew is expected to complete the first of their major re-entry milestones at 7:33 p.m ET. 

The Earth is now looming large in the astronauts' field of view as the mission moves along on schedule.

Bill Wiseman said the commander's teenage daughters had no idea the Artemis II crew had plans to name a lunar crater after their mother Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.

"We saw Reid's daughters grow up. We saw them go through some very challenging times and just to have the crew step back and honour Carroll, I thought it was really special. I know his daughters both really loved it," Bill said of his nieces Ellie and Katherine.

"It was an emotional moment for everyone. I think [the girls] were, again, super thankful to Jeremy [Hansen] and the crew for coming up with that idea and making it happen on this mission. So, I think 'thankful' and 'grateful' is the most emotion I can express."

Brother of Artemis II commander 'super excited and proud' of space mission

The Artemis II mission is set to end late Friday, after a record-breaking trip of a lifetime around the moon. Bill Wiseman, the brother of Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, shares how he and the rest of the family are feeling about the spacecraft's return and the crew naming a crater after Reid's late wife Carroll.

No unity is thomas more eager to escort the astronauts on the run aground than their families. Wiseman's comrade and fellow naval officer, Bill Wiseman, said he and his two nieces are counting down the minutes until the mission commander can tell them about his achievements in person.

"Technically, even spiritually, just the way the crew has been able to charm the world with a little bit of levity and some fantastic photography, and just really getting out there and reigniting the explorer gene in most folks. I'm super excited and proud of what these guys have done."

Artemis II crew makes history with furthest distance from Earth

The crew of the Artemis II space mission broke the record at 1:57 p.m. ET on Monday as the crew of four astronauts passed the record of 400,171 kilometres from Earth set by Apollo 13 in April 1970. Canadian river spaceman Jeremey Hansen took a bit to inquire NASA to dedicate deuce names for locations on the moon as a tribute to their spaceship, Integrity, and to Carroll, the late wife of fellow astronaut Reid Wiseman.

There was one particularly emotional moment during the mission. In a message to mission control in Houston, Hansen suggested naming a moon crater Integrity, after the name the crew gave the Orion capsule; and that another be named in honour of Wiseman's wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.

"A number of years ago we started this journey, our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one," Hansen said, before describing the location of the crater through tears. "It's a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call that Carroll."

Later, Wiseman said his crewmates had raised the idea while they were in quarantine before launch.

"That was an emotional moment for me," the mission commander told reporters. "I said, 'Absolutely, I would love that' ... But I can't give the speech. I can't give the talk."

Carney asks Artemis II crew about risk, playlist faves

The Artemis II crew, which includes Canadian mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney during a live space-to-Earth connection on Wednesday. Carney asked the astronauts about risk-taking, as well as their favourite wake-up songs during the mission.

Instead of using an alarm, NASA's mission control has been waking up the Artemis II astronauts each morning by playing a special song. 

It's a long-standing NASA tradition that dates back to the early days of space exploration in the 1960s, when astronauts were serenaded by their mission control colleagues in the spirit of camaraderie. 

NASA dropped a highly anticipated playlist on Spotify of the songs the Artemis II crew has heard during their lunar mission. The tracks on the list are:  

During a call to the Orion capsule on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney asked the astronauts what their favourite wake-up tunes have been during the mission. You can hear their responses in the video above.

I had a chance this morning to talk to one of Hansen's old Royal Military College buddies, who also did pilot training with him.

Maj.-Gen. Chris McKenna, commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Canadian NORAD region, is wearing a Hansen mission patch T-shirt under his military jumpsuit today, and says he'll be following the re-entry closely.

"I think it's going to be similar to the launch, where you're going to be holding your breath," he said.

McKenna said he was awestruck by the images from the lunar flyby, and has been inspired by the mission, "the audacity of it, the vision to be able to go and do this." 

"But I think the thing I like the most about it is the collaboration," he added.

"The world's in a bit of a tailspin right now, geopolitically a very difficult situation in many places in the world. And you have this amazing mission of hope, you have an amazing mission of collaboration, of exploration. I mean, it's hard not to get behind it."

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