"The autonomously guided capsule will slow down and dissipate heat through a time-honored 'skip' maneuver that dips it in and out of the atmosphere in a suborbital arc, then back in again for a final descent."
"Adjusting the reentry timing and angle enables a more precise landing target. It will take roughly 40 minutes from when the service module separation takes place at 400,000 feet to splashdown 50 to 80 miles off the coast of San Diego."
"We have high confidence in the system, heat shield, and parachutes, and recovery systems we put together. And tomorrow the crew is going to put their lives behind that confidence."
The Orion spacecraft, Integrity, is preparing for its reentry into Earth's atmosphere at 7:45 EDT, traveling at 25,000 mph. It will employ a skip maneuver to slow down, adjusting its center of mass for a safer descent. The reentry process includes a six-minute communications blackout and aims for a splashdown off San Diego. NASA officials express confidence in the systems in place, and the event will be streamed live on various platforms, potentially visible as a shooting star or sonic boom in Southern California.
Read at Fast Company
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