NASA’s Artemis program is conducting a final simulation for the recovery of the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft upon their return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This training, known as a just-in-time exercise, involves the collaboration between NASA’s Artemis Landing and Recovery team and the Department of War off the coast of California on Jan. 27, 2026. The teams are using a full-scale mockup of the Orion spacecraft, called the Crew Module Test Article, to simulate the conditions expected during the splashdown of the Artemis II mission. The Artemis II mission is NASA’s first crewed test flight in the Artemis campaign, and it will take astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency around the Moon, marking the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth.
**Original Source:** [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/artemis-ii-recovery-training/)