SAN DIEGO — NASA's historic Artemis I Mission is now in the final stretch of its journey. The unmanned spacecraft made its second close flyby of the moon Monday.
The spacecraft is now starting its journey back to earth. It's expected to plunge through the earth's atmosphere and splashdown just off the coast of San Diego into the Pacific Ocean Sunday.
"I'm very excited. I've been working on this for about six years," said Melissa Jones, the NASA Landing and Recovery Director.
Jones said they've been holding special training exercises with the military leading up to Artemis I returning to earth. A Navy ship will help retrieve the spacecraft from the ocean.
"Last week we went to sea with them and used the ship to do some training. We also use some helicopters from North Island the squadron that supports us and divers from Coronado," she said.
She says the spacecraft will be traveling 24,000 miles per hour upon reentry. NASA will try slowing it down and use parachutes so that it hits the water at just 25 miles per hour. The Artemis program's eventual goal is to put people back on the moon.
"We are trying to send the first woman and first person of color to the moon," she said.
Following this mission, NASA looks to fly a crew around the moon with Artemis II. Artemis III hopes to land people on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
"Having the human experience to be able to catch sunlight glinting off a rock that maybe a robotic explorer wouldn't have noticed it allows for more exploration with the human touch," said Lisa Will, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at San Diego City College.
NASA will have a live feed of the spacecraft as it plunges into the water off of the coast Sunday. That will mark the end of this mission which started back on Nov. 16.
WATCH RELATED: Artemis I | NASA's new chapter in space (Aug. 2022).