ATLANTA — The Artemis II has splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean Friday night, the successful culmination of a fiery re-entry.
“All four crewmembers are in excellent shape,” NASA said after splashdown.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33.
NASA said beforehand, re-entry is 13 minutes of things that have to go right.
Dr. Jud Ready is the executive director for the Georgia Tech Space Research Institute.
He explained how the materials in a space capsule’s heat shield protect the astronauts.
“So, the heat shield is a resin-based material that ablates. So, as it reenters, it goes from the vacuum of space to our atmospheric pressure here, it’s moving from… I heard them say this last night, Mach 32, which is obscenely fast, to 17 miles per hour. So, it has to dissipate that much energy in… I believe it was less than eight minutes,” Ready said.
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Meaning, the heat shield must go from the freezing cold vacuum of space to 5,000 degrees, to the cold Pacific Ocean, and not crack, break or fail.
That, Jud said, is science and only one part of the science it takes to get astronauts to the moon and back safely.
“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people all across the country, across the globe, with European space contributions, work toward this end. You may think you can bolt it together in the backyard, but you’re not coming back alive,” Jud said.
But with science comes the wonder.
Across town, hundreds of people, donning virtual reality glasses to experience space at the “Space Explorers: The Infinite Exhibit,” which allows viewers to float through the International Space Station and even interact with two of the Artemis II astronauts.
Greg Santoro is the senior venue manager. He told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that virtual astronauts can see Cristina Koch and Victor Glover when they were on the ISS.
“I think you would feel like you know them because, again, you might be at their dinner table and they’re just chatting with each other, and you feel like you’re sitting there with them,” Santoro said.
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