Artemis II leaves moon’s gravitational pull, starts journey back to Earth after snapping historical pictures

It’s all downhill from here.

Artemis II left the moon’s gravitational pull Tuesday afternoon – a milestone in the journey which will have the crew falling back home for the rest of its journey to Earth.

The mission’s Orion capsule crossed the invisible but very real boundary just before 1:30 p.m. ET while cruising about 230,000 miles from the Earth and 40,000 miles from the moon.

That means Earth’s gravity is now pulling more strongly on the Orion capsule than the moon’s is, and the crew is effectively falling home over the vastness of space.

And they will continue to fall and accelerate home until being grabbed by the planet’s orbit Friday evening before plummeting through the atmosphere at and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around 8 p.m. ET.

Artemis II is currently flying at about 2,100 mph, but will accelerate to around 25,000 by the time it falls through Earth’s atmosphere.