NASA is preparing for the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission, when the Orion spacecraft returns to Earth and splashes down into the Pacific Ocean. The re-entry and splashdown will occur around 7:07 p.m. CDT (8:07 PM. EDT, 5:07pm. PDT) off the coast of San Diego. NASA is planning to use pyrotechnics to slow the spacecraft before splashdown. The crew is expected to be extracted from Orion and flown to the USS John P. Murtha within two hours of landing, where they will undergo post-mission medical evaluations. The team at Mission Control in Houston is ensuring that everything goes according to plan when the astronauts return to Earth.