Taking the heat To understand what exactly happened to Orion, let’s rewind the story. As the capsule reentered Earth’s atmosphere, it started skimming its higher layers, which acts a bit like ...

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said Orion's shield "wore away differently than expected" upon the skip re-entry, the maneuver used to slow the spacecraft down as it re-enters Earth's ...

The Orion spacecraft splashed down in December 2022, marking the end of the Artemis I mission. On Dec. 11, 2022 – the time of the Artemis I reentry – this shield took severe damage, which ...

The missions will be pushed to April 2026 and mid-2027 respectively, which is around six months later than previously planned. The delay is due to problems with the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield.

While the Orion spacecraft and its heat shield performed their primary function—keeping the capsule and its systems safe from the 5,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures during reentry—the ...

The spacecraft is rigged with 1,200 sensors to gauge everything from heat to vibration to radiation. At 11 feet tall with a 16.5-foot base, Orion is bigger than the old-time Apollo capsules and ...

The Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher as it rolls out to Launch Pad 39B. (Joel Kowsky/NASA/CNP/Zuma Press) NASA and the aerospace ...

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the Orion spacecraft heat shield underwent extensive testing after the 2022 Artemis 1 flight around the Moon to understand the risks to astronauts.

(The target is now 2027.) So, NASA needed to make sure that any damage to the capsule– even its heat shield, which is meant to take some damage – wouldn’t risk the lives of a future crew.