UCSD - University of California - San Diego

04/08/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/08/2026 12:35

Why is the Artemis II Mission Landing off the Coast of San Diego

Published Date

April 08, 2026

Article Content

Artemis II - the first crewed mission to orbit the moon since 1972 - is set to splash down off the coast of San Diego tomorrow, April 10, around 5 p.m. local time. The four-person crew returns to earth in the Orion capsule, which they have named Integrity. We asked Aaron Rosengren, a faculty member in the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and an expert on spacecraft orbits between Earth and its moon, to explain why San Diego was chosen as the end point of the mission. Here is what he told us:

Aaron Rosengren is an expert in orbital mechanics in the Earth-moon system.
Photo: David Baillot

"The free-return trajectory [using the moon's gravity to send the spacecraft back toward Earth] set the broad fact that Orion would come back to Earth in the Pacific, but the exact splashdown area was still sharpened by smaller correction maneuvers afterward. So San Diego is not just "where the math happened to land"-it is also where NASA and the Navy have built and rehearsed the recovery operation. It is a practical choice: predictable Pacific recovery conditions, nearby naval support, and a well-practiced handoff from capsule to ship."

"Viewers along the Southern California coast should look west over the Pacific around 5 p.m. Orion will come in fast and low, appearing as a bright streak for less than a minute before splashdown."

Rosengren has spoken about the Artemis II mission to ABC News twice this past week, pointing out some of the mission's highlights, including literally going where no human has gone before The mission went as far away as 252,760 miles (406,778 km) from Earth, beating the previous record held by the Apollo 13 crew since 1970.

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