Artemis II astronauts ready to sail at 02:07 off the coast of California

The astronauts of the Artemis II Mission have conducted the second maneuver to return to Earth after the Moon's circumnavigation, thus exceeding half the journey back to our planet.

NASA has reported that the Orion ignited the thrusters for 9 seconds at 22:53 this Tuesday at the eastern hour of the United States (i.e. 04:53 on Wednesday in the South Basque Country), causing a change of speed of 1.6 meters per second and pushing the crew towards Earth.

However, two hours before the start of the maneuver, "there has been a loss of signal in the return link when data transmission speed has changed." The US space agency has indicated that the incident "has affected the transmission of communications and telemetry from ship to Earth." However, "two-way communications have been restored, and shortly thereafter flight controllers have resumed preparations to begin the next manoeuvre."

This very Friday, a third manoeuvre is planned to "correct the return route" prior to the re-entry procedures scheduled for 13:53 (19:53 in Hego Euskal Herria) in the east of the United States.

Hours later, at 20:07 on the east coast of the United States or 17:07 (Pacific time) -- that is, 02:07 in Hego Euskal Herria -- NASA expects the ship to sail off the coast of San Diego, California.