HAMPTON, Va. - As NASA's Orion space capsule reentered Earth's atmosphere on Sunday, local scientists and engineers held their breath.
After a record-breaking trip around the moon, traveling further than any other spacecraft designed for humans, the capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico around 12:40 p.m.
It marks the close of NASA's Artemis I mission; an uncrewed test flight that will eventually lead to sending the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface with Artemis III in the next few years.
Hundreds of engineers at NASA Langley Research Center have worked on Artemis I, not only from November's launch to Sunday's splashdown, but years before the Space Launch System ever left the Earth's surface with Orion attached.
In the latest episode of @NASA_EDGE, the team chatted with Bryan Russ, project manager for the Orion Water Impact Tests at Langley. Watch to learn more about the @NASA_Orion Swing test that took place in our Hydro Impact Basin: https://t.co/v0IQncmlt0 pic.twitter.com/iQoHTQnML5
— NASA Langley Research Center (@NASA_Langley) June 15, 2021
Testing for Orion's return happened in a 20-foot-deep basin of water underneath Langley's historic gantry — where Neil Armstrong trained for his moon mission more than 50 years ago — ending in 2021.
Darlene Pokora, NASA Langley Space Technology and Exploration Associate Director, helped lead that impact testing as the Langley Orion Project Manager. She joined dozens of others at the Virginia Air & Space Science Center in Hampton to watch the livestream of the splashdown.
"We waited a long time for this," Pokora told News 3 with tears in her eyes. "It was perfect, it was what we tested for at Langley. It came at the right angle. It landed like it was supposed to.”
Pokora gave a talk inside the Air & Space Science Center after watching the splashdown.
Artemis II will take a similar route around the moon as Artemis I, except it will have astronauts on board.
