NASA astronauts prepare for splashdown return to earth from moon mission

Just before 5am AEST, the Orion spacecraft, which the crew has dubbed Integrity, ignited its thrusters for eight seconds to push the capsule towards Earth.

Mission control said it was “a final fine-tuning of the trajectory of Integrity to hit the sweet spot in the corridor over the Pacific Ocean for entry”.

One more burn will come at 9.37am, which “is only required to lift the aft end of the vehicle ever so slightly, by a degree or two, to improve the angle of attack of the spacecraft as it enters the atmosphere, mitigating peak heating effects on the heat shield for Integrity”, mission control said.

“Our trajectory is dead set, right on the money, right down the pike.”