11 | Artemis Explained: Mission accomplished

About this episode

Belinda and Jacinta discuss the successful splashdown of the Artemis II astronauts and the physics involved in their re-entry.

There wasn't a dry eye in mission control as the Artemis II astronauts safely returned in what NASA called a "perfect" splashdown. Belinda and Jacinta relive the historic re-entry, and dig into the wild physics associated with blasting through Earth's atmosphere and plopping into the ocean. To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch with us: sciencefriction@abc.net.au . Credits: Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

People in this episode

Hosts: Belinda Smith, Jacinta Bowler

Topics covered

• Artemis II
• NASA
• splashdown
• physics
• space exploration
• Earth's atmosphere

Keywords

• Artemis II
• NASA
• splashdown
• re-entry
• physics
• space mission
• Earth's atmosphere

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA

Places: Gadigal, Wurundjeri

More episodes of Science Friction

• 12 | Artemis Explained: What a ride · April 15, 2026 · 17 min
• 10 | Artemis Explained: Countdown to splashdown · April 10, 2026 · 17 min
• 09 | Artemis Explained: Next stop, Earth · April 9, 2026 · 15 min
• 08 | Artemis Explained: Homeward bound · April 8, 2026 · 17 min
• 07 | Artemis Explained: Moon flyby success · April 7, 2026 · 17 min
• 06 | Artemis Explained: Moon joy · April 6, 2026 · 15 min