In just a couple of days, the Orion spacecraft will splash down off the coast of San Diego and 3,000 miles away in the Rocket City, there will be a party.

The City of Huntsville and Downtown Huntsville Inc. are hosting an Artemis II Splashdown Watch Party on Friday and everyone is invited.

“This mission carries the fingerprints of our community, and we’re proud to gather in Big Spring Park to share this moment together as we honor the teamwork, innovation and determination that made the Artemis journey around the moon possible,” said Mayor Tommy Battle. “Let us remind the world that Huntsville remains at the heart of America’s space story.”

Huntsville is home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which manages the Space Launch System and Human Landing System programs.

The event at Big Spring Park West will feature a live stream of the splashdown beginning at 6 p.m., offering the opportunity to witness history in the Rocket City. According to NASA, splashdown is scheduled for around 7 p.m. CST.

There will be food trucks and the U.S. Space & Rocket center mascots Apollo and Artemis will also be on hand.

“Huntsville has been intertwined with space exploration for more than seventy years, and we’re thrilled to bring the community together in downtown Huntsville to celebrate this historic achievement,” said Ron Poteat, DHI President & CEO.

The Artemis II mission has reached multiple milestones, including manually piloting the Orion spacecraft, multiple spacecraft moves to propel Orion to the moon and adjust its course during the flight, surpassing the Apollo 13 record for farthest crewed spaceflight, and a lunar flyby to view the far side of the moon.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission under the agency’s Artemis program, where NASA is sending astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.