NASA confirms Orion spacecraft has transitioned from lunar to Earth influence as crew heads toward Pacific splashdown.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

The crew of Artemis II has begun its return journey to Earth after departing the Moon’s gravitational influence, according to an update from NASA on Tuesday.

In a mission update shared alongside a video post, the agency said the Orion spacecraft had crossed a key threshold in spaceflight dynamics.

“We anticipate that the Orion spacecraft has now departed the lunar sphere of influence — this is when the gravitational pull of the Moon is stronger than the gravitational pull of Earth,” NASA stated.

The transition marks a critical milestone in the mission, indicating that Earth’s gravity has once again become the dominant force acting on the spacecraft as it travels home.

The Artemis II crew is expected to complete its journey with a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego on April 10. The mission timeline places the return nine days after launch from Florida, following a crewed flyby of the Moon.

The shift from lunar to Earth gravitational influence is a standard but significant phase in deep space missions, confirming that the spacecraft has successfully completed its outbound trajectory and is now on a return path toward Earth.

Artemis II represents a major step in NASA’s broader lunar exploration program, serving as a crewed test flight designed to validate systems and procedures for future missions.