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They'll enter the atmosphere just southeast of Hawaii. About 13 minutes later, the capsule should splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.Yes! You can watch Artemis come back to Earth with fellow space fans at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey.
That free event starts at 4 p.m.Flying by the moon, witnessing an eclipse, and traveling farther from Earth than any humans have before: The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission have hit many milestones since launching from Kennedy Space Center nearly 10 days ago. Now, if all goes according to plan Friday, they'll have completed their most important one: making it home. The crew's Orion space capsule is scheduled to enter the atmosphere at 7:53 p.m. ET, just southeast of Hawaii. About 13 minutes later, it should splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.You can watch Artemis come back to Earth with fellow space fans at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey. You're encouraged to arrive by 4 p.m. for the free event. Artemis is scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego shortly after 5 p.m. The museum's monthly Astronomy Night follows from 7 to 9 a.m.To make it there, the spacecraft will first have to punch through the Earth's atmosphere at about 25,000 miles per hour and experience temperatures upwards of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.The Artemis II crew — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — have been preparing for the return home for the past few days, which includes packing up equipment and reorienting the spacecraft for an ideal trajectory that will land them safely in the Pacific at 8:07 p.m. ET On return day, the crew will wake up at 11:35 a.m. and begin reconfiguring the Orion capsule for reentry. They will make an additional course correction to fine-tune the return trajectory at 2:53 p.m. Before entering the atmosphere, the spacecraft will need to ditch its service module — which housed thrusters, solar panels and other spaceflight hardware for the mission. Orion will separate from the service module at 7:33 p.m., which will then fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere. Orion, if all goes well, will avoid that fate. The spacecraft is set to begin its 13-minute plunge through the atmosphere at 7:53 p.m. During that time, it's expected that the crew will lose communication with Mission Control for about six minutes. As the capsule makes its return, it will deploy a series of parachutes that will slow it from about 25,000 miles per hour to just 20 miles per hour upon splashdown. The USS John P. Murtha is stationed near the splashdown zone and will help recover the crew. A team will head out to the floating capsule and install an inflatable raft just below Orion's side hatch. The crew will be examined by a flight surgeon, then helped out of the capsule. From the transport ship, they will hitch a ride back to Johnson Space Center in Houston.There's always risk when returning from space. Glover said that he has been thinking about this portion of the mission since he was selected for it back in 2023, and he's been looking forward to it ever since. "We have to get back," he said from the Orion capsule Wednesday."There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There's so many more pictures, so many more stories, and, gosh, I haven't even begun to process what we've been through.""Let's not beat around the bush," said Jeff Radigan, Artemis II's lead flight director."We have to hit that angle correctly. Otherwise, we're not going to have a successful reentry." All eyes will be on the heat shield — this is the piece of hardware beneath the capsule that protects the crew from the extreme temperatures during reentry. NASA tested it out on Artemis I, the previous, uncrewed mission, and found that NASA mission planners and the Artemis II team worked on a way to mitigate that risk. Instead of"skipping" through the atmosphere like Artemis I, this mission would hit the atmosphere steeper and faster, limiting the time the spacecraft spends in those fiery, energetic moments of reentry. "It's 13 minutes of things that have to go right," said Radigan."I have a whole checklist in my head that we're going through of all the things that have to happen."The Artemis II mission is a key flight test for Orion, and thus far, mission managers have been pleased with the results. The spacecraft has taken humans farther from Earth than they've ever been, breaking a record set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970. The crew tested the manual control of the spacecraft, which will be needed for future missions that will dock with a lunar landing system. The mission tested the spacecraft's life support systems and ability to keep four astronauts comfortable within the confined space. Artemis II returned humans to the moon for the first time since the Apollo program over 50 years ago. And while some astronauts back then did see the far side of the moon, the Artemis II crew was able to observe it from a vantage point never before seen by humans. Their images and geological notes will help better determine what the moon is made of and where it came from. While some of the astronauts' observations may help scientists understand the distant past, others will help mission managers better plan for the future. Case in point: The crew tested out the very first toilet to go to the moon, and it quickly ran into issues during flight. Multiple times during the trip, the crew had to use manual urinals instead. The issue, NASA said, was not with the toilet itself, but the system that dumps the urine overboard when it gets full. The Orion capsule will return to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the mission, where engineers will examine the spacecraft after its flight, including a closer look at the spacecraft's plumbing. The team will be picking apart the spacecraft to see how it performed — and make any necessary changes ahead of the next mission, Artemis III, set to launch next year.From left, Synergy CEO John McKeown and Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy Chris Wright at the Synergy Oil and Gas production site in Long Beach on April 8, 2026.U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited a Long Beach oil site to pressure Gov. Newsom over state regulations he says are driving up energy costs for Californians.U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright traveled to the property, owned by Synergy Oil & Gas, on Wednesday with a message to Gov. Gavin Newsom: state policies are increasing costs for Californians, and the Trump administration will be challenging them.with an oil-drilling company. The company would convert some of its land into public wetlands in exchange for the right to drill somewhere else. Then a state law meant to keep wells away from homes and schools thwarted the company’s plan for more drilling. Now that pact has become fodder for the Trump administration’s war against California Democratic energy policies.with an oil-drilling company. The company would convert some of its land into public wetlands in exchange for the right to drill somewhere else. Then a state law meant to keep wells away from homes and schools thwarted the company’s plan for more drilling. Now that pact has become fodder for the Trump administration’s war against California Democratic energy policies. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright traveled to the property, owned by Synergy Oil & Gas, on Wednesday with a message to Gov. Gavin Newsom: state policies are increasing costs for Californians, and the Trump administration will be challenging them.the U.S. Department of Interior’s request to stop enforcement of California’s setback law while a broader legal challenge is pending. “When you make energy expensive by importing it and putting ridiculous regulations on it, you not only make it more expensive to pay your bills, but you make it so businesses that consume energy aren't going to locate your state,” Wright said, standing between lines of Synergy-owned oil jack pumps near coastal wetlands. Wright’s visit points up the active fight on multiple fronts between California and the White House over energy prices, especially gasoline. The state’s gas prices are the“California’s gas prices were stable – and below $5 a gallon – for about two years before Trump launched his reckless war on Iran that closed the Strait of Hormuz and sent crude oil prices through the roof in red and blue states,” said Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for the governor. “Today, in California pointing the finger to distract from the fact that Americans have paid $10 billion more on gasoline since the start of this war.”Announced nearly a year ago, Long Beach and Synergy intended a deal to be mutually beneficial. Synergy would be able to drill new wells nearby and the city would gain public space and a cut from Synergy’s new revenue. But a recent setback law – which bans new oil wells within six-tenths of a mile of homes, schools and other populated areas – has made it nearly impossible to get permits, said Synergy owner John McKeown. The site where Wright spoke should be capable of extracting 6,000 oil barrels daily. It is only producing 100 barrels because of state limits, he said. “What I'm trying to do is save 35 employees, and I'm trying to produce we own,” he said on Wednesday.Long Beach Councilmember Kristina Duggan, who helped reach the agreement with Synergy, said the setback law harms city finances. The city gets 8.5% of local revenue from oil production, funds designated for coastal infrastructure. “We have wells off of the coast of Long Beach on our oil island where we can't drill new wells, and it is so far from sensitive areas,” Duggan said. “It really makes a difference. We rely on oil production for revenue in Long Beach.”over the setback law, arguing it illegally blocks business that the federal government oversees. The administration cited two land management laws, t While the lawsuit is pending, the U.S. Department of Interior requested a preliminary injunction that would bar the state from enforcing the setback law. A U.S. district court judge denied that request, and called California’s setback law “reasonable environmental regulation” that doesn’t bar alternative methods of accessing oil in the state. The U.S. district court judge said the U.S. Department of Interior has so far not demonstrated it’s likely to succeed in proving the law conflicts with federal law. The judge is also weighing whether to let community groups, represented by Earthjustice, and the Center for Biological Diversity toThe setback law's reach extends beyond private landowners like Synergy. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, it would make invalid about a third of federally authorized oil and gas leases in California. The setback in California “has absolutely nothing to do with public health,” Wright said on Wednesday. “These setbacks get set at the number that will kill the industry.”The setback law is just one front in a wider political battle that has put Newsom in an increasingly difficult position., arguing that Trump’s actions are responsible. At the same time, he has pushed back against growing criticism that California’s own environmental regulations are contributing to the cost of fuel. But his administration’s actions tell a more complicated story. Oil companies have shut refineries in recent months, causing the state to lose nearly 20% of its refining capacity. In response, California has increasingly relied on orchestrated a deal to boost productionpushed to delayextending the deadline to monitor wells near homes and schools for leaks by three and a half years, to July 2030, while keeping the core buffer-zone restrictions in place. Newsom signed the measure, delaying leak detection at oil wells.The Trump administration has shown no interest in giving Newsom room to maneuver. It’s pushing to expand oil production in California, including plans to revive offshore drilling along the coast at the site of the 2015 Refugio oil spill, where a pipeline, now owned by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., ruptured. Secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy Chris Wright speaks to Synergy employees at the Synergy Oil and Gas production site in Long Beach on April 8, 2026.Wright said he hopes to meet Gov. Newsom in the next few weeks to make his plea for more oil production in the state.The stakes of that legal confrontation extend well beyond a single pipeline. Even if the Sable project itself wouldn’t meaningfully change California’s oil supply, legal experts say the bigger story is what precedents the fights establish. The case could open a window on how far federal officials can go in using national security or emergency powers to override state authority — not just for pipelines, but for new oil development more broadly. “I have no doubt they're going to now extend it to try to apply the same theory about a national emergency, about national security, to leasing everywhere,” said Deborah Sivas, a Stanford environmental law expert. “They're going to use that same rationale.” But Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley, said that strategy faces long odds in California, where the politics of oil and gas have shifted sharply against new development. “California has really been going in the opposite direction,” said Elkind. “The idea of trying to really expand oil and gas production in the state, is really at odds with where the politics are and the economic realities are in the state at this moment.” In Long Beach, work to remove old wells on Synergy Oil & Gas property continues. For Kristina Duggan, the city councilmember, the larger battles are secondary. She's still watching the city's bottom line.Partly cloudy with highs mostly in the 70s from the coasts the valleys and up to low 90s for Coachella Valley.None Southern California skies will be filled with clouds and pockets of sunshine today before rain moves into the region this weekend. Temperatures at the beaches are going to stick around the upper 60s, up to around 70 degrees in Long Beach. In the valleys, we're looking at high temperatures in the mid-70s, up to 78 degrees over in the Inland Empire. Meanwhile, warm weather will embrace festival-goers for the first day of Coachella. Temperatures there are expected to reach 87 to 92 degrees. Looking ahead to the weekend, the rain starts coming in late Friday night. SoCal could get between a half-inch to an inch of rain tonight through Sunday. There will be some brief pockets of sunshine in between showers and there's a 15% to 30% chance of thunderstorms — that means look out for short, heavy downpours.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.Published April 10, 2026 5:00 AM Parents and caregivers representing more than a half-dozen community organizing and advocacy groups held a press conference Thursday to express their support for the strike and urge the district to reach a deal with the unions.Los Angeles Unified teachers, support staff and principals are on the verge of a historic strike that would likely shutter schools starting Tuesday, April 14.LAUSD schools provide meals, child care and education for about 400,000 students daily. In the event of a strike, theto distribute food, provide tech support and refer families to community organizations for child care. Updates about resources and labor negotiations will be posted toThe strike would be the first time the three unions walk out collectively. The unions say their demands will help members better afford the region’s high cost of living and provide a better experience for students.Acting Superintendent Andres Chait has said LAUSD will continue to negotiate in hopes of reaching a deal. “ We have a responsibility to our community to provide a quality education to our students and to make sure our employees are compensated fairly and equitably,” Chait said in a press conference following the announcement of the strike date. “But we also have a responsibility to be careful stewards of the financial resources that our taxpayers entrust to us.”Los Angeles Unified teachers, support staff and principals are days away from a strike that would likely shut down schools starting Tuesday. The unions, who represent about 68,000 employees collectively, say the walkout is a last resort after more than a year of negotiations over pay, benefits and school conditions. The strike would mark the first time three of the district’s most powerful unions— United Teachers Los Angeles, Service Employees International Union Local 99 and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles — collaborate on a strike. LAUSD is the country’s second-largest school district and provides education, meals and child care for about 400,000 students daily. Acting Superintendent Andres Chait said in March that LAUSD will continue to negotiate with the unions in hopes of reaching a deal. The unions say their demands will help members better afford the region’s high cost of living and provide a better experience for students. “ We have a responsibility to our community to provide a quality education to our students and to make sure our employees are compensated fairly and equitably,” Chait said in a press conference last month following the strike announcement. “But we also have a responsibility to be careful stewards of the financial resources that our taxpayers entrust to us.”“When you have three unions… who have all indicated that they would strike together it is exceedingly difficult, if not nearly impossible to schools open during that scenario,” Chait said in March. The striking unions represent the majority of the district’s 83,000 employees. UTLA has said the strike would be open ended, so it’s unclear how long the strike— if it happens— will last. shut down the district’s spring sports programthat it plans to distribute food, tech support and refer families to community organizations for child care. Updates about resources and labor negotiations will be posted toParents and caregivers representing more than a half-dozen community organizing and advocacy groups held a press conference Thursday morning to express their support for the strike and urge the district to reach a deal with the unions. “When they advocate for better pay, staffing and resources, they are advocating for our children's future,” said Esmeralda Rangel, whose younger siblings attend LAUSD schools. “When educators and staff are supported, our schools are stronger and our classrooms are better.” Carmel Levitan is a group moderator, and the parent of LAUSD students in Eagle Rock. She said there have been a lot of questions about whether there will be remote learning, food or child care available during the strike. “I do think there's a lot of anxiety,” Levitan said. “So we all just take a few days off work? Can we afford that? Do our jobs allow that? And so I do think the uncertainty is stressful and really harming a lot of families.”Elizabeth Hernandez plans to open her home, near a South L.A. middle school, to striking teachers, and said she'll provide snacks and bathroom access. “It's important for us as parents to support our teachers because at the end of the day, they are the ones that spend most of the days with our kids,” Hernandez said.United Teachers Los Angeles, SEIU Local 99 and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles have been negotiating with the district over pay, benefits and additional support for students for more than a year. The members of each union voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the power to call a strike.UTLA’s bargaining team has met with the district more than a dozen times since negotiations began last February. The union declared an impasse in December, a legal step that triggers a “fact finding” intervention from a neutral mediator appointed by the state’s labor relations board. The union’s most recent bargaining session ended Wednesday night and another meeting is scheduled for Saturday. “While there was some constructive engagement, the district must do more to address critical issues like staffing, student mental health, and livable wages for educators,” the union wrote in a statement.Changes to the salary schedule so that newer teachers who complete professional development can earn increases more quickly.A 10% salary increase over three years and an agreement to “collaboratively adjust” the salary schedule.An agreement not to replace union jobs with Artificial Intelligence or use the technology to surveil students and employees. The fact-finding chair, Donald Raczka, was unable to determine whether the district could afford UTLA's proposal. “Due to the complexity of LAUSD’s budget, thoroughly examining these claims would be time-consuming and labor-intensive—tasks that go beyond the Chair’s current capacity given the available information,” Raczka wrote.“The failure of the Fact Finder to even attempt to figure out the finances is a disservice to the educators and students of LAUSD and to the fact-finding process itself,” wrote Brian McNamara, a UTLA director and fact finding panelist inA 30% wage increase over three years. LAUSD’s most recent offer includes: A 13% wage increase over three years.SEIU Local 99 also declared an impasse in December, but is at a different stage in the bargaining process than UTLA.The basis for SEIU’s strike vote is what the union says are more than a dozen unfair practice charges where members have been disciplined or lost hours as a result of participating in union activities.Maria Avalos is a supervision aide at Fernangeles Elementary School in Sun Valley. Avalos said she’s only assigned four hours of work a day and also cleans houses and sells tamales to support her daughter.A 10% wage increase over three years. “We don't have the necessary resources to really say we have safe schools, to really say that we're servicing students,” said Maria Nichols, president of AALA, duringPublished April 10, 2026 5:00 AML.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned this week that Los Angeles could face bankruptcy if it doesn't make an airtight deal with Olympics organizers over how it will be reimbursed for its expenses during the coming 2028 Summer Games.The Olympics have long been promoted as a"no cost" deal for taxpayers that will be hosted by the city, but funded and orchestrated by private organizing committee LA28.A key agreement outlining what city services Los Angeles will provide for the Games – like policing and traffic control – and how the cash-strapped city will be reimbursed for its extra work is nowThe major concern is who will pay security costs for the Olympics, including LAPD overtime. The federal government has allocated one billion dollars to security costs, but L.A. officials are wondering who will pick up the tab if that money doesn't cover the costs.L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned this week that Los Angeles could face bankruptcy if it doesn't make an airtight deal with Olympics organizers over how it will be reimbursed for its expenses during the coming 2028 Summer Games. The Olympics have long been promoted as a"no cost" deal for taxpayers that will be hosted by the city, but funded and orchestrated by private organizing committee LA28. But a key agreement outlining what city services Los Angeles will provide for the Games – like policing and traffic control – and how the cash-strapped city will be reimbursed for its extra work is now more than In a letter to LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover sent Tuesday, Rodriguez warned that if it isn't changed, the current draft agreement could leave L.A. vulnerable to spending hundreds of millions even if LA28 turns a profit. "Every dollar owed to the City must be reconciled and paid before any surplus is retained or repurposed," Rodriguez wrote."Bankruptcy cannot be the legacy of these Games." The major concern is who will pay security costs for the Olympics, including LAPD overtime. The federal government has allocatedDespite those plans, city officials are concerned about who will be left with the bag if the federal funding doesn't come through, or if it doesn't cover all of the city's security costs. LA28 has not included security spending in its $7.1 billion budget – a point that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto raised in a March report sent to the city council. The billion dollars in federal funding will also be allocated across all the law enforcement agencies that police the Games – meaning the actual amount the city of L.A. will receive is unclear. "What happens if the City's actual extraordinary expenses exceed $1 billion?" Feldstein Soto wrote in her report.the financial backstop for the Olympic Games , meaning if the organizing committee runs into the red, L.A. will pick up the bill, along with the state of California. In their missives over Olympic expenses, both the city attorney and Councilmember Rodriguez raised a new potential nightmare scenario for the city: that the Olympics could make a surplus, and L.A. could still be left in debt. "The City requires unambiguous language in the to foreclose any scenario in which funds might go back to the wealthy backers and investors of the LA28 organization without reimbursing taxpayer-funded extraordinary costs," the city attorney wrote. LA28 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Next Tuesday, the city council's ad-hoc committee on the Olympic Games will meet for the first time since January.
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