After Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean a couple weeks later, however, NASA spotted a problem with the spacecraft's heat shield. It had cracked and chipped in more than 100 places.

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 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.

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 ...

For those who follow NASA's human spaceflight program, when the Orion spacecraft's heat shield cracked and chipped away during atmospheric reentry on the unpiloted Artemis I test flight in late 2022, ...

Experts discussed results of NASA's investigation into its Orion spacecraft heat shield after it experienced an unexpected loss of charred material during re-entry of the Artemis I uncrewed test ...

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 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.

For the Artemis II crewed test flight, engineers will continue to prepare Orion with the heat shield already attached to the capsule. The agency also announced it is now targeting April 2026 for ...