ORION RETURNS TO EARTH, Dec 11, 2022, JSC, 12:39 pm ET, Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island

Update, December 9:  NASA refined the announced time to 12:39 pm ET instead of 12:40, but the precise time is 12:39:42 ET.

The agency declined to give the precise landing coordinates following advice from the Navy, which is recovering Orion, but it is in the Pacific Ocean approximately 100 miles west of the Baja peninsula near Guadalupe Island.

Update, December 4:  The post-splashdown news conference will be at ~3:30 pm ET and participants are:

• Bill Nelson, NASA administrator
• Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration System Development Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Howard Hu, Orion Program manager, Johnson
• Emily Nelson, chief flight director, Johnson
• Melissa Jones, recovery director, Kennedy

Original Entry: NASA will provide live coverage of Orion’s return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific on December 11, 2022 beginning at 11:00 am ET.

The schedule of events as published on NASA’s website is as follows:

• 11:00 am ET: NASA TV coverage of Orion entry and splashdown begins
• 12:00 pm ET: Crew module and service module separation
• 12:03 pm ET: Crew module raise maneuver to establish proper azimuth for reentry
• 12:20 pm ET: Targeted entry interface/crew module entry interface
• 12:40 pm ET: Orion splashdown
• 3:00 pm ET: NASA TV post-splashdown briefing
• 6:00 pm ET: Artemis Mission Highlights Recap