Artemis 1 landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Guadalupe Island, near Baja California, Mexico, during its reentry and splashdown in December 2022. NASA later used the same general Pacific splashdown area for Artemis II’s expected return in 2026, southwest of San Diego, for recovery operations.[3][5]
Key points:
- Artemis 1 (uncrewed) splashdown target: Pacific Ocean near Guadalupe Island, about 200 miles west of Baja California.[5]
- Artemis II aims to splash down in the same broad Pacific zone, near the San Diego area, to allow efficient recovery by U.S. Navy assets.[3]
- Actual splashdown timing for Artemis II was planned for around 8:07 p.m. EDT on the target date, in the Pacific off the coast of California.[1][3]
If you’d like, I can pull the latest primary sources or provide a brief map of the splashdown zones.
Sources
A skip, a re-entry and a series of parachute deployments will send Orion into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday (Dec. 11.)
www.space.comThe successful return to Earth marks a major milestone in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon.
www.cbsnews.comThe successful return to Earth marks a major milestone in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon.
www.cbsnews.comSAN DIEGO — NASA's Artemis II Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean approximately 50 to 60 miles off the coast of San Diego, California, at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT) on Friday, April 10, 2026, safely returning four astronauts from humanity's first crewed lunar voyage
www.ibtimes.com.auThe successful return to Earth marks a major milestone in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon.
www.cbsnews.comOn flight day 23 of NASA’s Artemis I mission, the Orion spacecraft continues making the return trip to Earth, capturing photos and video along the way. “At present, we are on track to have a fully successful mission with some bonus objectives that we’ve achieved along the way,” said Mike Sarafin,
scitechdaily.comNASA chose the splashdown site for some very good reasons.
www.space.com