The American crewed lunar spacecraft begins its return journey to Earth.

According to NASA, the Orion spacecraft executing the U.S. Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission began its return journey to Earth on the 7th.
According to the mission plan released by NASA, after completing the lunar flyby, the Orion spacecraft will leave the moon’s gravitational influence around 13:23 Eastern Time on the 7th (01:23 Beijing Time on the 8th).
Next, the spacecraft will ignite its thrusters at 21:03 Eastern Time on the 7th to perform the first of three trajectory correction maneuvers, adjusting the spacecraft’s orbit and further calibrating its return path to Earth.
The spacecraft is expected to splash down near the coast of San Diego, California, on the evening of the 10th.
American media reports say that the re-entry phase of the spacecraft returning to Earth is one of the most risky stages of space missions.
The Orion spacecraft involved in the Artemis II mission will enter Earth’s atmosphere at over 30 times the speed of sound, causing intense compression of the air, which can heat the exterior of the spacecraft to above 2760 degrees Celsius.
The Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission was launched on the 1st, using the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to send four astronauts to lunar orbit.
According to data from NASA’s official website, the total expected flight distance from launch to splashdown is approximately 695.1k miles (about 1,118,624 kilometers).
(Xinhua News Agency)