The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, carrying a simulated crew of three mannequins wired with sensors, plunged into the ocean at 9:40am Pacific Standard Time (17:40 GMT) on Sunday off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, executing a key demonstration of how future lunar astronauts would safely return to Earth.pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022The return capped a 25-day mission and came less than a week after Orion passed about 127km (79 miles) above the Moon in a lunar fly-by.About two weeks ago, the capsule reached its farthest point away in space, nearly 434,500km (270,000 miles) from Earth.Apollo’s successor programmeThe Orion voyage, which launched on NASA’s new mega Moon rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on November 16, kicked off Apollo’s successor programme, Artemis.Re-entry marked the single most critical phase of Orion’s journey, testing whether its newly designed heat shield can withstand atmospheric friction and safely protect astronauts that would be on board."