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Erin Burnett Outfront
"Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Returns". Aired 6:50-8p ET
Aired April 10, 2026 - 18:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett on this Friday, and welcome to a very special edition of OUTFRONT on this Friday, "Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Returns".
An incredible moment, we are now about to begin one of the most crucial and critical hours of the entire 10-day mission. The return home reentering earths orbit. All right, these are live pictures from inside the spacecraft.
The four astronauts are there. They are strapped in. You can see the suits are on. The items are stowed away. They are ready. Okay. And right now, it almost -- it almost looks static, right? Because you're inside the module, but they are hurtling towards earth at more than 12,000 miles an hour. And think about that. That's -- what's going on outside in this very peaceful scene that you're looking at.
NASA's flight director says that we are now in the midst of an hour and a half where things have to go right, and they absolutely do. As we speak, the crew is making final preparations to separate from the service module. That is a crucial, breaking up that is going to happen in these next few moments. And it will expose the Orion's heat shield, which is what is going to protect the crew because they are going to be encountering temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. One of our guests is going to say about half the surface temperature of the sun.
Four minutes later, the crew is then going to perform an 18 second, what is called a burn. And that is when they set something that is absolutely crucial. That is the angle at which they will enter the atmosphere, and that's absolutely crucial, right? That's a make or break moment as well.
And then at 7:53, what could be the most dangerous moment of the mission, and that is reentering Earth's atmosphere, the formal moment. At that time, Orion will be traveling nearly 35 times the speed of -- the speed of sound, at that moment. That is video of what the Artemis II reentry looked like back in 2022, right? This is Artemis II. So, Artemis I went through this.
And look at this. This time the crew is expected to experience nearly four Gs. You can see that that's the speed and the heat right of the last one. Artemis I in December 2022. So this is what's going to happen for Artemis II. And at the moment, 7:53, there's going to be no communication with mission control for about six minutes. That plasma is going to build around the Orion and everything in this
mission now back to this very peaceful and calm spacecraft. Everything is timed to the millisecond, though we do know that the Artemis crew went through their checklist 30 minutes early. So when we say every second counts, they went through the checklist 30 minutes early. They were ready.
And at any moment, we should be getting a live shot from the USS Murtha. Why? Because they are going to be front and center at the splashdown. That is the ship gearing up right now to retrieve the four astronauts once they splashdown. You've got those parachutes right when they finally come into the atmosphere, and then parachute down to the surface of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
So, much to get to. I want to start with Randi Kaye.
Randi, you're OUTFRONT at Johnson Space Center in Houston, mission control.
So what is the latest that you're learning there? What is the feel and the vibe there right now?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The feel is there's a lot of excitement. You can feel the excitement building. The emotion is building. The anxiety is building as well as well.
And we are learning from mission control that upon reentry, the Orion capsule will be going the fastest speed that it has. That would be nearly 25,000 miles per hour. And that's right. When they will lose contact from reentry to splashdown is about 13 minutes. And as you said, six of those minutes will be without contact with the astronauts.
And when they reenter the Earth's atmosphere, it will be at about 400,000 feet above -- above us. So this is a critical moment. And of course, all eyes will be on that heat shield that you were showing.
With Artemis I, the heat shield showed that there were pockmarks. There were big chunks that came off it. And this is a similar heat shield that they're using with Artemis II. So it had already been coded. It was too late to change it for Artemis II.
So the heat shield is supposed to protect the astronauts, and the capsule. So, there's a lot of questions -- lingering questions certainly about whether or not it will do its job. Its supposed to sort of degrade naturally and bit by bit. But with Artemis I, there were the chunks that came off.
So we'll be watching that. And well also be keeping an eye on the families, Erin. They're going to be here in mission control in the next building over. And they'll be on the observation deck. We were able to get in there earlier this week. We could see where they would stand, and they'll have a view of CapCom.
[18:55:01] That's the desk that will be speaking with the astronauts during reentry, and also the flight controllers, which are overseeing this whole show.
So they'll see as it comes across the continents, they'll see it come in, they'll be able to watch the distance before it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean and, and check its altitude. So they will watch it step by step along with mission control, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Randi. And of course, we're going to be checking back in with Randi here over these next minutes.
You know, when she describes that there's excitement. Of course, there's anxiety. There's pressure. I mean, that's what's happening in mission control.
And for the next hour, as we cover this incredible moment, frankly, for all of humankind, we have an amazing group with us.
Michio Kaku is a renowned theoretical physicist.
Mike Massimino, former astronaut. He's been to space twice.
Timothy Glotch, scientist working on the upcoming Artemis moon landing team.
Patricia Reiff is a physics and astronomy professor at Rice University.
Mae Jemison is a former astronaut. She was aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.
And Bill Weir, climate and space are -- our esteemed correspondent and anchor.
Okay, so everyone is here with me.
Can I just say, Mike Massimino --
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes.
BURNETT: -- you said to me when we all sat down here, you said, how do you feel? And I said, well, I'm excited. I'm nervous. How do you feel?
MASSIMINO: I'm trying to stress the excited part right now. I think, you know, it's -- there's -- there's a lot that has to happen. You have to hit the entry corridor just right. The heat shield has to work and slow them down from 25,000 miles an hour. That thing's got to slow them down with about 5,000 degrees of heat around the spacecraft, down to about 300 miles an hour. And then the chutes have to deploy, all these mini miracles have to happen.
And I think they're going to -- I think they're going to be okay. And I'm very excited to get my friends back on Planet Earth after this wonderful journey that they've had --
BURNETT: Many miracles, Michio, as Mike calls.
MASSIMINO: I got that from Victor Glover, by the way.
BURNETT: By the way. And can I just say quickly, you talked to Victor Glover today?
MASSIMINO: I emailed.
BURNETT: Well, you emailed with Victor Glover.
MASSIMINO: Yes.
BURNETT: What did he say? He said something. I know there were private things, but there was something.
MASSIMINO: He said, tell the world. So I think this is okay for me to tell the world to keep this energy going, because he can feel what's going on down here. And then he said, let's invest in togetherness. And I think he came up with that just off the top of his head, sending me an email. So there you go.
BURNETT: It is, Bill, that is an incredible point that what we have heard from them, even when they have spoken, right when we heard Christina speak.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.
BURNETT: Right after they had been where no seem -- what no humans had seen before, right? That moment, let's invest in togetherness.
WEIR: But I think that this mission will be remembered both for the distance but also the humanity, the humility, the sense of humor of these incredible crewmates. How could you not fall in love with people naming craters after lost loved ones?
And as Victor says, is so eloquent just off the top of his head, putting all of this in perspective, that we're on this little blue marble together. And when you're up there, all of those borders disappear. It's really poignant. And hats off to just them as people leading this mission.
BURNETT: Human ingenuity, creativity, poeticism, all of it. And then Michio, just the reality of the physics, because what Mike's calling little miracles, maybe that's a good word for people like me, because its hard to understand all of it. But, Michio, when you look at the actual physics of what they're about to go through, temperatures half the -- half the temperature of the surface of the sun, which Patricia is going to talk about in a moment, speeds of 25,000 miles an hour, and for human beings in a in a little in a little shell.
MICHIO KAKU, PROFESSOR OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: Well, you know, people have their champagne glasses all ready to go. They're about to drop the balloons, but I hate to be the party pooper, but there's a fly -- there's a fly in the ointment that we have to be very careful about. And that is the reentry, the reentry of Artemis I that took place a
few years ago as a test showed cracks, cracks inside the heat shield that shocked the scientists there. They did not expect this at all. Caught everyone off guard. And then they realized, maybe we have to replace the heat shield, but there's no time. No time to replace the heat shield.
BURNETT: Randi said they had to keep the same -- the technology was already in place.
KAKU: Everything's already in place. Things are ready to go. They can't replace the heat shield. But the heat shield was cracked. So what are you going to do?
And the thing is they said, well, let's change the trajectory. Let's change the pathway. So instead of skimming the atmosphere of the Earth, in which case, as it skims, the air cracks develop, why not just go into the Earth on one swoop, okay, that minimizes the stress on the on the tiles. And perhaps we can navigate this without having to redo the entire heat shield. So that's what we have now.
BURNETT: So, let me just ask Patricia. I know obviously you're an expert on all things related to the heat shield. You know, were looking right now at live pictures from inside the control of the Orion spacecraft.
[19:00:04]
The lights went off for a second. They just came back on. Now they just turned them off again. Let me just ask Patricia. Can you think of why that would be? And Mike, maybe you can as well.
But, Patricia, do you do you know? I mean, we're just obviously now were looking at this is a live image on board Artemis II. It's now in darkness. It looked like someone reached up and flipped -- flipped a switch, essentially
PATRICIA REIFF, NASA ADVISER: I actually don't know, maybe Mike.
BURNETT: So I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I thought -- okay, go ahead. Mike, do you know -- yeah.
MASSIMINO: Is that -- it's kind of nighttime outside for them and they can probably see the displays better with the cabin lights off.
BURNETT: So it's literally impractical --
MASSIMINO: Flying at night in an aircraft, you know, if you turn your lights down, you'll be able to see the displays better. The lights kind of mess up your vision. So I'm guessing now the lights are back on. So there goes that.
BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. Well, but it could be -- but, Mae --
MASSIMINO: May be trying to get through good lighting level so they can see the displays. BURNETT: Yeah. Mae, I know obviously you've been as well. So what do
you think of what we're seeing here.
MAE JEMISON, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: I think you can see outside better too. Yeah. Because this is your last little bit of going outside and it's really hard to see it when all the lights are on and they're reflecting back at you. So what Mike said, but I'm trying to look out the window.
BURNETT: I guess your last the last moments of just the glorious images, right? And perhaps that's what it is. I guess that's the kind of the miraculous and the mundane all together in all of this.
Patricia, let me ask you about the heat shield though, because mythos just walking through, right, that they weren't able to change the shield itself, which had had issues in Artemis I. So they changed the trajectory. We have an image of the trajectory of Artemis I, which was obviously uncrewed and a trajectory of what they then adjusted this Artemis mission. We are in blue.
And so you can see the angle at which it comes in is different. And then it's -- it's in a sense a bit flatter. If we zoom in a little bit at one specific point where we're going to see the peak heat, we can show you that as it reenters is where you see a big difference. So that -- that's it right there. So when you enlarge it, you can see the difference between the orange and the red line as Artemis is going to come in -- Artemis II. Again, we are in blue.
Patricia, walk us through what happened here then.
REIFF: Well, as it comes down, that heat shield starts to ablate. In other words, it gets warm because it is changing all that kinetic energy. The speed energy into heat energy. And to do that, it's warming up and parts of it are melting off just like a meteorite. When it comes into earth, the outer crust will melt, but the inner part will still stay cold. And that's what this heat shield is designed to do, is to let the outer part get warm and wear off a bit, but still have enough thickness that that heat can't penetrate.
Now, what happened in Artemis I is it stayed so long in the heated region that the gas bubbles happened underneath the surface and bubbled up and caused ruptures in the surface of that heat shield. And we're hoping to avoid that this time.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, of course, and this is a live picture outside the craft. So what Mae was talking about that they wanted to have the lights down to look out and see. Wouldn't you, would you want light pollution to ruin this? I mean, I can't believe this is -- this is real.
Yeah. Go ahead. I like how Michio just put his hand up. Only a professor would.
Go ahead, Michio.
KAKU: The key thing is this fix that NASA has put in that is looking at a new heat shield for Artemis II. That is not a new heat shield. It's just a modification of the timing of the heat shield. It's untested. I repeat, untested.
So we're putting billions of dollars on the table, peoples lives on the table. Chances are things are going to be okay. Chances are.
But you have to realize that were talking about an untested technology as the -- as the rocket begins to enter the earth's atmosphere.
BURNETT: So okay, so I have we have a whiteboard on this show. I wouldn't want everyone to think there was an opportunity like tonight we could use one?
MASSIMINO: That's good.
BURNETT: We've got it.
Okay, so I did the trajectories. We tried to keep the same color. So the orange red is the original Artemis. Tim. We are the blue. So this, this point right here is what we were just talking about, right? The reentry.
I am going to do something that makes me very nervous. Hand over my whiteboard. All right. So show us something. I know you wanted to show us.
TIMOTHY GLOTCH, NASA ARTEMIS LUNAR SURFACE SCIENCE TEAM: Yeah. So I'm a professor. Never seen a whiteboard I didn't like, right? So we'll just -- here's the -- here's the top of the atmosphere basically. So for Artemis I, there's -- they did the skip maneuver and the idea for coming down here was to bleed off some of that energy, bleed off some of that speed, so that when it comes back up, it goes back down a little bit slower and a little bit more gentle.
[19:05:04]
BURNETT: So, you're bouncing up and down.
GLOTCH: Bouncing up and down.
WEIR: Skipping a stone.
BURNETT: Yeah. Very good. Okay.
GLOTCH: The result of that though is that the total heat load, the total time that the spacecraft was under a high heat load was about 14 minutes or so. So the, the solution that the NASA engineers came up with for Artemis II was to reduce that total heat load time. So they come back in with Artemis II at a overall steeper trajectory. So they come down faster and that heat load.
BURNETT: It looks like they're not bouncing in and out.
GLOTCH: They're not bouncing out. They're kind of -- they flatten out a little bit, they flatten out a little bit, and then they kind of go back down again. But that total heat load time is reduced from like 14 minutes or so to about eight minutes. And so there's less of that ablation going on. There's less time for those tiles to get really, really hot. And hopefully that will reduce the stress on the.
BURNETT: So Patricia, what's the significance of that? Taking that from, as Tim just said, about 14 minutes with Artemis I, where you saw all that damage to the heat shield down to what did you say? Eight about eight-ish. Yeah. Patricia.
REIFF: Well, it's diffusion. How -- how much can that heat diffuse through those tiles? And it's got to be much better if its eight minutes versus 14. No question.
BURNETT: Yeah. So okay, go ahead, Mike.
MASSIMINO: I mean, the folks at NASA have looked at this for you. They're not putting my friends purposely in danger. I think knowing that team down there, the same people, a lot of the same people when I was there and you know, you may maybe the you may think this might be foolish, but I trusted them with our lives. And I still do.
And I trust them with my friends' lives. They if -- they thought there was going to be a likelihood, even a small, significant chance, that that heat shield was not going to work under this profile, they wouldn't do it. The crew wouldn't go. They would not put them in harm's way.
Anything can happen. But I don't -- I don't think this is a, you know, a foolhardy, a foolhardy way to do it. And I think they've really looked at it and they don't want to lose.
BURNETT: So, Mae, let me just ask you, because, you know, when you see just to think about the confidence of the crew right now, everything has gone so far the way it was expected to go. I know NASA was saying today there were some things that, you know, that they would tweak around the edges about how the mission has gone, but nothing major. But there was one thing, Mae, that stood out. I mentioned it briefly, which is that the crew went through the checklist 30 minutes early.
Everything else is pretty much to the second. What they've been saying, but they went through the checklist 30 minutes early. Do you think that just signals a lot of confidence that they were that they're completely ready? They're sort of like, okay, let's -- let's get this thing going?
JEMISON: Well, I think it's because if you have the time, you go through it early because then if something's you need to figure something out, you have the opportunity to figure it out. So I think that that's part of it.
But I want to go back to the heat shield and the little miracles.
BURNETT: Yeah.
JEMISON: All throughout spaceflight, these miracles have to happen. If we look at the kinds of accuracy, the kinds of stresses and loads these vehicles go through, these little miracles happen all the time. And that's the part that gives you confidence because every time something launches, you have this dynamic exchange of energy that I think Patricia mentioned when it comes back in the atmosphere, you have this dynamic change of energy.
Each one of those requires accuracy. It requires specificity, it requires timing. It requires a mathematical calculations to be correct. So this isn't a new thing. I think what Mike said is really important that people are paying attention. And, you know, and I should go back and say that Apollo had ablative heat shields, very similar materials been manufactured, done a little bit differently. But every Apollo mission came in with a blade of heat shields.
The shuttle didn't have those, at tile had a different type. And so I think that, you know, yes, we're paying attention. Yes, we're concerned. But the trajectory change does make a difference. It also keeps the gases from expanding. When you come up out of the earth's atmosphere again. So there are a number of different factors that have been put into place to make sure that the heat shields hold.
BURNETT: And also, I mean, when people think what's at stake here, you know, we obviously we know what happened with the Columbia, right? The horrible tragedy your missions to space. You went once before Columbia.
MASSIMINO: I was on Columbia, yeah.
BURNETT: That -- on the mission before on the Columbia.
MASSIMINO: Yeah.
BURNETT: And then you went after the Columbia disaster. And what changed?
MASSIMINO: In the -- in the experience of it gave us a reminder of how dangerous the entire mission is, including reentry, because we lost that crew on reentry. And you they had the challenger accident. And there were things that we learned and put in place. There was a lot. When you have an accident like that, it's not just one thing. It's a bunch of things that come together at the wrong time, both technical and non-technical.
We learned from that accident, the Challenger accident before my time as an astronaut, we flew safely for another -- do the math in public.
[19:10:05]
But, you know, 17 years or whatever it was. And then coming that Columbia accident was a wake up that, hey, you know, its not just ascent that can get you, but its also entry and you know, entry on my, my first flight on Columbia. It was not the same mood.
I hate to say it, but it was not the same mood of the -- of what was going to happen on my second flight after the Columbia accident. And yes, I was in my seat early on my second floor. We were we made sure we were ready, buttoned up and ready to go. I think though, I -- you know, I think that the things that they saw on the first Artemis mission, I think they have a solution for that. Yeah. Not to be, you know, worrisome here, but it's the things that you cant imagine. The thing -- the things that took down.
BURNETT: When things go wrong, right? It's not.
MASSIMINO: You could never -- you try to think of everything that can go wrong and you test and you test and you simulate and it's something that you have not imagined that that happens. So that's the thing -- that's that gremlin out there that might surface.
BURNETT: But and if they had delayed to change things, Bill, and again, if they needed to delay, obviously making the point, they would have delayed. But Artemis has already had plenty of delays all the way through as, as Tim is well aware, he's working on the crude Artemis for mission to the moon to delay this to change the heat shield itself would have added another 18 months.
WEIR: Exactly. I mean, you have to remind ourselves of 2004 George W. Bush. So we're going back to the moon. You know, this was after like, let's -- let's give the folks something to hope for now.
But I'm curious, Mike, about trusting that you that all those top minds at NASA are asking all the right questions and cant be bent by peer pressure or anything. What is giving them the faith? Is it computer simulations? Is it just math that they feel confident? Because as he says, it's not been tested.
MASSIMINO: I'm not really sure what they did, Bill. I don't know what they did something though, to make sure that they were going to be whatever that means. And I'm sure it involved with testing and simulations. And unless they're as sure as they can be that that crew is going to be safe, they would there's no way. I mean, a catastrophe would.
WEIR: Yeah, of course.
MASSIMINO: Boy, that would knock us.
BURNETT: So can we -- okay, so Tim was showing us on the chart the atmosphere. The two difference, the two different paths, right? And how we're coming straight in.
MASSIMINO: Yeah.
BURNETT: Mike and then Michio will weigh in. Show us this is the Orion. This is where were looking at pictures of them right now inside. They're inside this.
MASSIMINO: They're in the top part of it.
BURNETT: They're in the top. Oh, wait. I just took out your --
MASSIMINO: This is not. I should have warned.
BURNETT: Not that easy to have. MASSIMINO: Things go wrong. This -- this is not a simulation of what's
going on. We can fix this without a -- I'm doing a spacewalk now. It's fixed.
BURNETT: Okay.
MASSIMINO: It's part of it. Come off. I can try this. Put the camera somewhere else. Let's see here. Pull on this thing. Let's see if we can get.
BURNETT: You know what we did. We just zoomed in on.
MASSIMINO: Here we go. Watch this. Here we go. Look at that. So this won't be here. This is just a part of the project.
BURNETT: That's part of the project.
MASSIMINO: But this is the service module that's going to be jettisoned.
BURNETT: So at 7:33 and we'll go through this again now. But those two parts are going to split apart.
MASSIMINO: That's right.
BURNETT: Okay. So what you're holding in your hand, this is where the crew is.
MASSIMINO: Yeah. They're in here. So they're going to have a bit of a boom. Pyrotechnics are going to, you know, take care of that. And they're going to feel that it'll give them a little jolt and that'll knock them over this way. And this thing will do its thing, go away and then --
KAKU: Burn up and reentry.
MASSIMINO: This ones going to go away. We won't get this back. This we're going to get back with my friends inside. Okay?
And then they're going to do a burn to orient it correctly. So it hits the entry corridor right at the right angle. So they'll move this thing around to get it where it needs to go. And then --
BURNETT: Michio, that part. So there's, I mean, we're talking about all the small miracles, but the hitting at the right angle. I mean, you're thinking about the -- I mean, I don't want -- I use the word violence. I know its planned and controlled, but the violence with which you're going to rip these two things apart and then this is going to come out of it and just at the right angle, come into Tim's atmosphere and just and just hit it exactly the right angle, when angle is everything that, Michio, is stunning.
KAKU: Right, but if you were to summarize all this, you can summarize it in terms of one word -- untested. This is an untested technology. Now for Artemis III and four, they're saying that they could they could modify it. There's enough time to modify Artemis III and four, but not enough time to modify Artemis II. So Artemis II is coming in with a, quote, "untested technology".
BURNETT: Untested technology on the -- on the entry angle.
KAKU: On the entry angle. That's right.
BURNETT: So, okay, so walk us through that.
GLOTCH: So I think what I would say is that Artemis I was a test, right? And it was uncrewed. It was uncrewed and it was uncrewed for a reason because it was a new thing to do. And based off of the results of that test, they reiterated and they modified. And there was a two year investigation and two years of, meticulous investigation and planning to come up with the plan for Artemis II. So I guess so I guess what I would say is I have a lot of trust in NASA's culture of safety.
I think that's there's a lot of differences between Apollo and Artemis.
[19:15:03]
One of them, I think, is that there's a much higher emphasis on safety these days. And like Mike said, just to borrow his words, these are people's friends. These are people's family. These are people, these people, colleagues. And it's, in NASA's engineers. And I know my scientist friends who know the crew they take that very, very seriously.
I've been involved with robotic missions and we get scared when a Mars rover is about to land and go through the atmosphere. The stakes here are so much higher. And, people don't take that lightly.
BURNETT: No, no. All right, we're going to take a very brief break. And next, we are standing by for the Artemis II crew to reenter the earth's atmosphere. We're going through some of the physics and the reality of that, what that will mean in this most crucial and dangerous moment of the mission. We're going to bring that to you, of course, live.
You're looking at the crew. You're looking at the time as they're getting closer and closer, and that beautiful Pacific Ocean where we expect that capsule to splash down in less than an hour.
Live pictures of the USS Murtha. That is where they're going to be recovering the astronauts once they splash down, getting them, getting them out of that capsule and back to their families, were going to be speaking to the brother in law of the Artemis commander, Reid Wiseman.
So how is the Wiseman family feeling right now as they are getting ready to watch him, this person that they love come home?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:52]
BURNETT: And welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT, "Mission to the Moon: Artemis II Returns".
We've got the breaking news live images of the Artemis II recovery site in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego. Okay, this is aboard the USS Murtha.
And what a beautiful afternoon. The crew on that ship is going to help rescue the four person crew after splashdown, which is just minutes away.
Elex Michaelson is OUTFRONT now at naval base San Diego.
And, Elex, you've been talking to your sources in the navy all day. They are responsible for retrieving the Artemis crew once they splashed down. So what are they telling you? And how exactly is this going to work?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's walk through it. First off, welcome to San Diego and how beautiful a day is it here, Erin? It's really spectacular.
So let's talk about Murtha, what you're looking at live right now and why the Murtha? Why was that particular ship chosen, which is based right here? Well, it's really big and gives them the ability to do a lot of things.
First off, it has room for four different helicopters, which will be used in the operation today. Two of them are going to go up and help with aerial views that are helpful for NASA for the process of bringing this thing down, figuring out exactly where to bring it down, all the rest. Two of them will be used to actually fly the astronauts back to the Murtha.
So what's going to happen? First, we see the splashdown happen there, you know, kept a little ways away, then some smaller boats go in and they will open up the hatch and do some medical treatment. We saw something similar when Space X had a splashdown earlier this year. That was in the middle of the night.
But we saw the first people that the astronauts see are doctors to make sure, are they okay? Are they coherent? Are they good? If they're good, they get on the helicopter, they go back to the Murtha where they see more doctors. They each have their own medical suites aboard that Murtha to make sure that they're okay. If they're okay there, then they get on another helicopter and then they come back to land in San Diego for more treatment.
When you think about, Erin, what this does to the human body that that process that you've been talking about all hour and just the ten days in space itself, which is why every step of the way, there's so carefully monitored. And basically the navy all coming together to make sure that all of these astronauts are able to get out of this safely.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much. And in just a moment with our panel, were going to talk about that. Obviously, we've got astronauts here as well. You know, talk about what its like when you've been up there for a
while. Never mind what the human body is going through in this reentry process that we are now in the midst of here. And we are just about eight, nine minutes away from what we anticipate to be the separation.
I'm grabbing Mike Massimino's model of the actual capsule, where the crew is from the service module itself, they're going to separate. So then it's this, this little thing that's going to bounce into the atmosphere and come home and bounce in that water right off the USS Murtha, as you're looking at now.
I want to bring in Bob Taylor. He is the brother in law of NASA astronaut and Artemis commander, Reid Wiseman, and Bob is the brother of Reid's late wife, Carroll. She passed away in 2020 after a years- long cancer battle. And of course, this crew just naming this incredible crater on the moon after Carroll.
Bob, we're just moments away from the reentry, from that crucial moment, the separating of the service module and the capsule 25,000 miles an hour. Your brother in laws spacecraft, it's going to be, you know, it's designed at that moment to be a giant fireball protected by that heat shield. What's going on through your mind as you watch this with your brother doing this incredible feat?
BOB TAYLOR, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER REID WISEMAN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: Well, its pretty exciting, especially following this journey from beginning and culminating here in just about a half an hour or so. But yeah, watching your coverage and reading up a little bit on it sounds like they had a few issues with Artemis I, but it sounds like they have a good plan to mitigate any risk, for the reentry on this one.
BURNETT: There was a moment on board the Orion earlier this week, where the crew, the mission control and frankly, any of us, as we watched it, brought to tears, which was when one of the astronauts, Jeremy Hansen, requested to name that crater, the newly discovered crater on the moon in honor of your sister Carroll. And I just want to play that moment again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY HANSEN, ASTRONAUT: At certain times of the moon's transit around Earth, you can -- we will be able to see this from earth. And so we lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of the mother of Katie and Ellie. And if you want to find this one, you look at Glushko and it's just to the northwest of that, at the same latitude as Ohm. And it's a -- it's a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: To name that bright spot after your sister, what does that mean to you?
TAYLOR: Well, it was certainly unexpected. I wasn't watching the coverage at the time. My sister texted me, went and watched that and certainly was moving. Yeah, no, it's not official, but if that that name stuck, that would be fantastic.
BURNETT: I think we all I think we all hope, hope and expect that it will. I know your sister died before the Artemis II crew was announced. So, so she didn't know for sure if reed was going to make it. Although, of course that had been his dream, you know? How did she feel about Reid's -- you know, his job, his life calling, frankly, that that's what no other word to describe being an astronaut at NASA.
TAYLOR: Well, so I met Reid in roughly 2000 and through mutual friends that we both flew with, and he met Carroll shortly after that. So I think from the beginning, she knew what his dreams and goals were. And so she's been shed been with them for a large part of that journey. They went up to Pax River, we went to test pilot school. As he got his masters degree at Johns Hopkins. And then, applied to the astronaut corps and was with him on that whole journey and was super excited for him. I know when she got sick, Reid wanted to move back here, but she was like, no, this is where you need to be. So for sure she was his number one supporter
BURNETT: Their daughters, Ellie and Katie, came by the Johnson Space Center earlier this week. And, you know, they, they got to, to talk to their dad and he sent them a message. And I just want to play part of it for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: Hello to Ellie and Katie. I don't know who else is there, but it's great to know that you're in mission control right now, following along, we are having a blast up here. In the view of the moon is absolutely amazing
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Ellie and Katie, you know, their whole life has been, you know, watching their dad, you know, to work for this. I know they're 20 and 17 years old. You were all there when Artemis lifted off together. You know what? What is the first thing or you know what are you looking forward to most when you're all together again? And when Reid is back with his daughters.
TAYLOR: Well, it's going to be interesting. Reid and the girls are coming out here in about a month, so I'm sure hell have a lot of great stories to tell us. And looking forward to that visit for sure.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Bob, thank you very much. You know, I can't imagine exactly the kind of excitement and, and nervousness that you feel all of it combined right now, but my thoughts are with you as you wait for his return. And, of course, with his children as well. Thank you so much.
TAYLOR: All right.
BURNETT: And everyone is back here with me as were getting some new information, which is that Orion has now switched its communications network. They had been the capsule had been using the deep space network to stay in touch, but its now transitioning back to using NASA's tracking and data relay constellation for its communication needs. And it's getting closer, Mike. I mean, that's part of the reality. They're not in deep space anymore. That's the whole point. We're about to come back home.
MASSIMINO: Yep. They can pick up the satellites and communicate through those the same way that we did with the shuttle, in the same way that the ISS, the International Space Station communicates with mission control. So yes, they are indeed closer. That's a big step.
BURNETT: A big step as we're getting closer and closer and we're about to go, as I said, were just two or three minutes away from seeing the separation of the capsule from the service module, which is going to enable that heat shield to be exposed. And this crucial moment of reentry to happen.
You know, briefly, Elex referenced what happens to the crew. And I remember the crew that was stuck up on the international space station for so long.
[19:30:01]
They were supposed to go for a few days, right? They got stuck. You know, when they came off, they had to come off and in stretchers out of the capsule just because of what happens to your body. That was over a long period of time. This is only, what, about ten days? But still what their bodies have gone through is incredible.
JEMISON: Well, I think one of the things that happens when you get into microgravity, you're not using your muscles in the same way, so your muscles start to deteriorate. If you think about being in bed rest for a long time, your muscles deteriorate. So that's one of the pieces that happens.
You also lose a lot of the regular fluids in your body because you don't need them in the same way that you need them on Earth. So you sort of urinate this stuff out. And then when you come back on earth, your cardiovascular system, your veins, your blood vessels, they don't have as much fluid on them.
But there are a number of things that the astronauts usually do to help deal with this is they fluid load. So at some point in time in the timeline, they would have done fluid loading just before they come back down in order to get rid of that cardiovascular stuff.
And the muscles and things like that, you have to get them back. And ten days is not as long as being on station. But I noticed that they also had exercise equipment, which was not one of the things Apollo guys had.
And I should add one other thing. So they talked about all the time that, you know, they're going to be all these medical tests and evaluations. So those medical tests and evaluations are to make sure that the crew are healthy when they return. But its also part of data collection. So we really start to understand more and more about what happens.
So the crew members, not only are we really concerned about them, but they're also sort of test subjects as well.
BURNETT: Right.
JEMISON: And that's something that is really important.
BURNETT: Tim, which I know you're working on for Artemis for the crew that's going to go to the moon, right? All of this data is central, right to you for when they're going to go and walk on the moon.
Absolutely. Bill, I'm just looking at this image right now. This is outside Artemis again, it's amazing. It just looks like its sitting there frozen. I just thought this things about to be going 25,000 miles an hour.
That's right. It looks like it's a still image perspective. You know what? But there's just its just nothing out there, right? It's pitch black space.
WEIR: Yeah.
BURNETT: But this is, you know, to look at this, right? And it looks so static. And yet what we are about to see the forces, the power, even in the next minute, when we see the capsule and the module separate to expose that heat shield.
WEIR: It is the most audacious thing these space programs, I mean, go back to Apollo, all of it. You can't lose the awe of just human beings with smarts and math, figuring out a way. But just to get this thing up there, right? You know, I used to lay on my bed as a kid, and you try to hit the ceiling with the ball, right?
And this is a similar thing, right? Just do it just right. Or maybe set a target. But this is doing that at a quarter million miles high, just right, and then bringing it back down.
And how do you slow down something going 25,000 miles an hour? Just slam it into the atmosphere you know, just --
BURNETT: How many times do you need to bounce it in?
WEIR: And just ride that bull until you can then get the parachutes to splash you down. But the whole thing.
BURNETT: Here is separation. In one minute. So -- okay, can I just put it back together again real quick? All right. We're keeping it up.
I don't know where we're going to show it out. So we have while were looking at it, mikes going to walk us through what's going to happen. So it's basically its like the top of a can. Okay, so everyone now that you're looking at ours.
MASSIMINO: Yeah.
BURNETT: Okay. Show me what's about to happen.
MASSIMINO: Some pyrotechnics are involved here. So there's going to be a bit of a controlled explosion here and outside the spacecraft. And they'll separate and they'll get a bit of a jolt inside here. You know, they'll go away. So they'll feel that.
BURNETT: Is this the way an astronaut would describe a jolt that I would think was like the end of the world? A little jolt, just a little speed bump.
MASSIMINO: But they'll hear things, too. They'll hear the pyrotechnics. Boom. They'll hear that.
BURNETT: They'll hear.
MASSIMINO: Cool. You don't hear very much coming from outside because you cant hear in space. But they'll hear that it'll resonate through the spacecraft. So they'll hear that, and then they'll -- they'll separate a little bit. And, and then this will go and.
BURNETT: Well, listen, let's listen to mission control here so we can hear it happen. Should be just a few seconds away.
MASSIMINO: There we go.
BURNETT: Wow.
MASSIMINO: See?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have confirmation of crew module service module separation and a great view, albeit momentarily.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston gets up on board.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Houston copy is in. Concurs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The European service module, now separated from Integrity. A job well done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Integrity. No action for the 4CHD cautions, those are SM related, not applicable
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Integrity.
[19:35:00]
KAKU: Our astronauts that went to the moon thought they saw flying saucers when it was actually ice crystals that --
BURNETT: That solidified water. Those little ice snow, ice.
KAKU: Yeah. So I think it's probably ice crystals.
BURNETT: Thank you, Mike, solidified word. Yes, Erin. I would call it ice.
MASSIMINO: We had that in. We saw that on the shuttle too. One time I was inside the Hubble working and looked outside. I'm like, it's slow. It's snowing in the payload bay. It's this ice that stays with you. It's in orbit with you, and it breaks up and kind of cool. You know, the sun shines through.
WEIR: It could change to plasma, right? As they get as they --
MASSIMINO: Once they -- once they start heating up and they engage the atmosphere, all those particles will heat up. We'll lose --
BURNETT: So put a pin in plasma for a second because I want to talk about that because, you know, most people's image of plasma is maybe, you know, a yellow fluid in the body. This is obviously different. Patricia, can I just ask you, when you just saw it separate there, that sort. Of it almost looked like a champagne cork to me, just sort of pop separating apart. Right?
And you know, what did you see there? Obviously successful. They have confirmed this went the way it should. That was a crucial process here, right? This had to be perfect because the angle at which it popped out is essential to the angle that this craft is going to hit the atmosphere at.
REIFF: And of course, you don't want them to come back and bump into each other again. So you need to give them enough of a separation velocity so they don't hit again. But the other thing to notice, everybody's been saying 25,000 miles an hour. But when we started this broadcast, they were going less than 10,000.
Watch the velocity. The velocity has been climbing as we have been changing potential energy. We've falling into the Earth. And as were falling, we're speeding up. So watch the -- watch the velocity, keeping going up.
BURNETT: It is right now 19,100. Yeah.
All right. Lets. There it is. We're replaying it. That's -- now --
WEIR: Their little charges around the rim. How does it or just one big one that pops.
MASSIMINO: I think its charges around there like a system of pyrotechnics that that'll go and separate. I don't think they'd want to rely on just one of them. I think they want to make sure the thing gets out of there.
BURNETT: Right. So, literally, all the way around.
MASSIMINO: I don't know how many, but you would -- you would think somehow symmetrically around there to get a good, a good separation.
BURNETT: So, okay, so now this part that we're seeing now, the snow that you say is essentially it's a -- it's water vapor. That's ice.
So, Michio, your -- Bill was just saying that's going to turn into the plasma. Okay? Can you just explain in English what this plasma is? Right? Essentially, I guess in a sense it's a liquid is fire. What is it?
KAKU: Well, plasma has two meanings. BURNETT: Yeah.
KAKU: When is the fourth state of matter? That's what the sun is made out of. That's what the interior of a TV set is made out of, disassociated atoms, things that are glow. That's plasma, the fourth state of matter. Then there's plasma inside the body, the fluid that that he was mentioning. But here were talking about plasma in outer space. And that's the fourth state of matter. That's what the universe is made of.
We are the exceptions. Were either exceptions. Most of the universe is made out of plasma. The sun is made out of plasma, for example.
BURNETT: So that's what -- that's where. Okay, now we've got one of the burns done here. I mean, were going through check by check here, Mike. We're getting there. Going through. Got to go through. Each one of these steps there on time, which, you know, things can, can move by a minute or two here and there even at this entry.
But right now they are on time and they're getting closer and closer. You see the distance from earth going down and we see the velocity, as Patricia just pointed out, we were at 19,100, what 30 seconds ago? Or 45 seconds ago. And here were now almost at 20,000.
MASSIMINO: You speed up. That's typical. You'll hit your highest speed as you enter the atmosphere. You know, on any mission, your highest speed is when you start approaching the earth again after the mission.
BURNETT: Okay, so when you look at these numbers and you were -- you were talking about this, this, this crucial angle at which they have to hit the atmosphere. All right, well, let's listen to mission control, Tim and I want to give you a chance to talk about this angle were at.
Okay. All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So for those who are watching --
BURNETT: Go ahead and explain.
GLOTCH: Yeah. Sure thing. So as, Michio and Mike mentioned, we're coming in at, well, roughly, we're going to be roughly 24,000 miles an hour when we hit the top of earth's atmosphere. Right now, we're less than that. And that's, its speeding up. But that's the Earth pulling the spacecraft towards it. That's the influence of Earth's gravity.
Now, when we come in that plasma that Michio was talking about is caused by friction of the spacecraft slowing down, the Earth's atmosphere heating up. And you get that glowing gas, which is which is the plasma. By the time the spacecraft gets to the surface and splashes down, were going from 24,000 miles an hour to about 20 miles an hour. I mean, so that's -- I mean, that's -- you know, a little bump if you get a little fender bender, right?
[19:40:03] I mean, so incredible deceleration. That's where that four Gs of force comes from, that incredible deceleration as they come through the earth's atmosphere.
BURNETT: Which is -- which is just incredible. But they did have to have a raised burn, as they call it, in order to adjust after they came off the service module to get the angle right. And that is done. And they say that is done accurately and completely.
MASSIMINO: Miracle number one.
BURNETT: Okay, so now the angle is set. So now it's going to be coming in and were going to take a very brief break. We're coming back because this crucial moment, moments away from the Artemis II crew reentering the Earth's atmosphere, that moment when it hits the angle and it pops right through, we're moments away. And we'll bring that to you live. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:28]
BURNETT: Less than eight minutes away. We expect from reentry this crucial moment in a communications blackout that we know will happen. Right now, the images you're looking there are from inside the Orion spacecraft. That's through the window looking out.
So that is the view that the crew has. You can see a little bit of the reflections of the orange spacesuits there in the in the picture. But that is a live image looking out of Orion right now as we are just a few minutes away from this most crucial moment, the reentry into Earth's atmosphere, hitting speeds of 25,000 miles an hour, the heat shield going to going to endure heat temperatures up to half the temperature of the sun.
Absolutely incredible what we are about to watch. Mission control right now is ready. Randi Kaye is there at Johnson Space Center.
Randi, this is it. This is the crucial moment. And we hear mission control when they speak. It is obviously so calm, so collected. But right now they know they are in these final, crucial moments.
KAYE: Yeah, absolutely. They're about to hit their fastest speed as they come in for reentry, nearly 25,000 miles per hour. And mission control is watching every moment of it. And we've been watching mission control.
You can see the two flight controllers, the main desk in mission control. There's the flight controllers that sit right next to CapCom. CapCom is the desk that communicates. Those are the people who communicate with the Orion space capsule and the astronauts.
And the two flight controllers are there. We've been watching them. That would be Judd Frieling and Rick Henfling. Rick actually handles the reentry for NASA. And they have been chatting with each other. We've been watching them. They do appear calm, but certainly they have both said that the heat shield, they have confidence in it. They expect it will hold up.
As you've been discussing, Erin, the heat shield was not perfect on Artemis I. This is a similar heat shield. Big chunks came off it on Artemis I and there were there were cracks and pockmarks. So they've changed the trajectory and they hope that it will prevent major damage and major cracking as this Orion capsule and Artemis II comes in, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Randi Kaye, thank you very much.
As Randi speaking, we're looking at the spacecraft rapidly approaching because you see that number going lower down to under 700 miles. We're still looking outside the Orion's window. Sometimes it's popping up. Obviously, those pixels.
Mike Massimino, we are about -- as you are speaking, were going to hit 23,000 miles an hour for the velocity of the Orion.
MASSIMINO: That's fast. And that view out that window, were going to lose it. But we talked about the plasma. What's going to happen as they hit entry interface. And they start to slow down after they hit that, that that top speed, that plasma is going to start to burn. It's going to turn red hot, an orange red hot.
It really is impressive when you see it outside the spacecraft. And then you might be staring at it for a while and you don't want to look at that anymore because its a little scary, but there's going to be quite. So their view right now is dark sky right there above the atmosphere. They're going to see this burning red hot plasma around them as they enter into the atmosphere. And then it's going to change to blue sky. And then its going to change to ocean.
KAKU: And from the Earth, it looks like a meteor. Looks like a meteor coming down.
BURNETT: Imagine what it will look like to us.
WEIR: Do they have anything to do during this or just not? Just hold on.
MASSIMINO: Hopefully. Hopefully it's an automatic. It's an automatic entry. So hopefully, the computers, the flight systems will take it. They'll be monitored. They are -- they're glued to them. They are monitoring. So yes, they are totally engaged, monitoring what's going on. And hopefully the entry will just go perfectly so they won't have to take over the spaceship. It should be controlled by the systems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. When a plasma shield will build up around the spacecraft due to the ionization, due to heating effects, and flight dynamics has just confirmed we will have a blackout period of exactly six minutes in duration. And once again, that's due to the fact that a plasma buildup around the vehicle will prevent communications and data. So we will not be able to talk to the crew members at that time, nor will we receive data here in the flight control room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is looking good on board. Just confirm. No downloads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Houston concurs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That blackout period to begin at 6:53 and 54 seconds p.m. Central Time and again will last about six minutes in duration.
BURNETT: Mike Massimino, what is it when they just radioed back, what does that mean?
[19:50:03]
MASSIMINO: I think he said, no down -- no E.I. download. So E.I. is entry interface. That's when they hit, that's when they start hitting the -- hitting the atmosphere. So that's a good sign. Everything's good.
BURNETT: We are at about 24,000 right now, miles an hour. We're going to -- we're going to hit that, Tim, here in just in just seconds, 7:53, 7:54 Eastern Time is when they have just confirmed mission control that were going to go in this communications blackout. So we're right up against it almost at the peak speed here as were looking at these pictures, it is -- it is incredible. Again, just the contrast of this piece and brightness and the speed that we are.
WEIR: It also makes me wonder.
BURNETT: We're at 24,000 miles an hour now, Bill.
WEIR: It makes me wonder if, you know, missions of the future will look back and say, we used to have these six minute blackout periods. Is this something that could be engineered around? Or the physics of this reentry, the kind of thing that you never would be able to figure out?
MASSIMINO: I don't know, we had them on the show.
WEIR: Yeah.
BURNETT: Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Across the Pacific Ocean, three minutes from entry interface. 16.5 minutes until splashdown.
BURNETT: What a short period of time. And yet so much has to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Murtha and the recovery team is on station and in position, as are the airborne imagery assets that we hope to receive imagery from, as Artemis enters the Earth's atmosphere and through parachute deployment.
GLOTCH: I think one thing that its good to remember during this, I mean, its normal to kind of feel like the anxiety, right? But there's a lot of excitement. There's a lot of things that have to go right as Mike was saying, yeah.
BURNETT: Anybody watching your heart racing know Mike Massimino, you are okay.
MASSIMINO: This is -- it's go time. You know, you can't -- you can't -- you can't be this intense the whole time. But now's the time to be intense.
GLOTCH: But at the same time, I think its really useful to remember that the engineers that work at NASA are among the best our country has to offer, right? They are so smart. They're so good at their jobs. They're so dedicated to their jobs.
WEIR: And that's why this is such a great win for those folks. Absolutely flawless mission like this to prove we could do it again. Last of an era, right? The next ones, were going to be SpaceX or Blue Horizon driving these missions.
And it strikes me that -- that I think 10 million visitors a year go to Johnson Space Center to visit it. They don't give tours at SpaceX, you know, the NASA is all of us, right? The 400,000 young families that built the Apollo program, it felt everybody felt connected to it. As we get into more privatized space, I wonder.
BURNETT: We are -- we are now 90 seconds away. One minute, one minute, they're saying just a little bit over one minute from their time. They said 7:53, 7:54 Eastern Time. And Mike said they said the weather at the location off the USS Murtha at splashdown is a go.
MASSIMINO: It's a go, great.
BURNETT: I mean, we could see it. It doesn't get more perfect than that weather.
MASSIMINO: But yeah, that's California is a good place for this sort of thing. Good weather. And I'm just very excited for them. And I think it's great what you said with Tim and Bill were saying, this is a tribute to what people can do.
BURNETT: Mae, just a few seconds here. We have less than a minute, but what is it like for them in these moments?
JEMISON: I think there's a bit of whimsy, you know, that you sort of like. You're sad it's over. At the same time, you're excited about getting back to tell your story, getting back on earth, seeing people talking about things. But there's one thing I wanted to say when people were talking about who's going to take over this?
Remember the government, NASA has done the big things. And so that's really paved the way for the commercial guys to do the other things. And so we really need to keep pushing forward and not assume that the NASA --
BURNETT: All right. So now lets listen in to mission control. Let's listen in to mission control. Here we are just 10 seconds away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we have crossed the threshold now entering the Earth's atmosphere. We're at 400,000 feet traveling 34,800 feet per second. Time to splashdown 13 minutes 10 seconds
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as predicted, we've entered our communications blackout.
MASSIMINO: Oh, well --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This will be a six minute blackout period. No voice, no data from the crew
[19:55:00]
BURNETT: Mike Massimino, they have -- they have now -- we're in the blackout.
MASSIMINO: Yep.
BURNETT: We thought that would be at 7:53, 7:54. It was about 20 seconds after that. And then we saw it go to blue. We saw it happen.
MASSIMINO: Yeah.
BURNETT: So, now, they're there. And what are they doing right now? We can't see them. We can't hear them. We can't see what they're seeing. This is it. It's a blackout.
MASSIMINO: They are -- they are still engaged. Now, when we had our -- I was thinking about this. We went through the blackout. I don't remember the blackout. Oh, now were in the blackout. It's like we just -- you just keep it. You just keep looking at what you need to look at and monitoring what you need to monitor. It's going to be a really cool light show outside of the spacecraft. And the shuttle, you could look through the window.
I was sending it behind the commander, behind the pilot and commander and through the overhead windows. If I held up a mirror, I could see the tail glowing red hot and I --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since their launch back on April 1st.
BURNETT: So this is mission control. When we -- when we go back to the black image, there is a pinpoint of light that you can see maybe for a second or so when it pops up, so that -- we could see, we could see that part of it.
It is important to know that after this, Tim, we will get images of what they saw, right?
GLOTCH: Right.
BURNETT: With Artemis, I we did, right? So, all of the -- what you call the light show that was going on outside that window, we will get it. We will see what they saw. It just obviously not in the moment.
GLOTCH: I think the other thing that's important to recognize here while were waiting is that just like we learned a lot about the reentry process from Artemis I, we're going to learn a lot every -- every reentry is a learning experience. There are actually teams of scientists that are deploying seismometers, which are what we usually use to measure earthquakes all around, up and down the coast of southern California. And they're going to measure that shock wave or that sonic boom as that spacecraft, as the Orion comes back into the atmosphere.
And from the different signals that they get from the seismometers, they'll be able to learn about the properties of that shock wave and tell more about the reentry process and how it happened. And then they might be able to tweak things or refine things later on as.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plasma buildup around the spacecraft and the repelling of that heat on Integrity's heat shield.
BURNETT: Visualization.
MASSIMINO: It's really bright orange, red, orange, red hot there.
BURNETT: And you can see, you can see the crew waiting. And they said they have visuals.
MASSIMINO: Oh, great. They can see them. And as Tim was saying, and what you pointed out, they're taking a lot of imagery. So they are recording everything and they've got multiple cameras all over the place, I would imagine. So we'll get to see what they saw eventually. I would imagine.
WEIR: Photography on this mission will go down, right.
MASSIMINO: The cameras have improved a lot over the years. Yeah. And they're really well trained. That was a big part of their training was to document all this.
WEIR: So and what are those g forces feel like is where as were.
MASSIMINO: Oh, yeah. So whatever you weigh multiply it by -- you don't have to say it out loud anyway. Whatever you weigh, multiply it by four, and that's what you're feeling.
BURNETT: They've got a visual, by the way. They've got a visual.
MASSIMINO: So that's what you're feeling. So its like, I feel like we had we had three Gs like on ascent. I felt like there were three big dudes sitting on me. That's what its like.
BURNETT: All right. And we're getting close to splashdown here. Just an absolutely incredible moment as we cover this.
And Anderson Cooper continues our special coverage right now.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Erin, thank you. If you are just joining us, the astronauts of Artemis II are just minutes from splashdown in the Pacific, just off the coast of San Diego, 8:07 is the time the splashdown we are anticipating.
It's a 360 special coverage.
Right now, they're making their way through the most critical phase of reentry after hitting the Earth's atmosphere at speeds approaching 25,000 miles an hour. Those speeds and the heat from it are causing a six minute communications blackout. That's what were in right now.
And I just want to be clear, what you're looking at is NASA is calling it a visualization. It's essentially an animation that NASA is putting out. This isn't something we've created. This is what NASA is putting out to give you a sense of what it looks like, what the capsule is experiencing, what the astronauts are experiencing.
Shortly before that blackout began, Commander Reid Wiseman remarked that he had a great view of the moon out the window, but smaller than it was a few days ago. Houston replied, "We'll have to go back," and they certainly will.
So now, having endured the steepest, hottest part of its descent, the Orion crew module is getting ready to slow to a few hundred miles an hour, after which a sequence of parachutes will slow it further to about 19 miles an hour, all of which you will see on camera when communication is restored in just a few minutes. Its going to slow to about 19 miles an hour, bringing Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, who is a Canadian astronaut, and pilot Victor Glover back home.
Joining me right now, CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean and three very distinguished former astronauts, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Jeanette Epps and Garrett Reisman.
I appreciate all of you being with us.
So, Senator Kelly, as we are watching this, what does it feel like inside that capsule?
SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): Well, they're going to get up to about four G's, so it'll get pretty heavy. Your body will feel four times its weight on earth.
COOPER: And we're told helicopters have a visual of the capsule.
KELLY: That's great. That's good.
