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 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.

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 ...

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.

NASA said the heat shield investigation and other issues with the Orion spacecraft have delayed the Artemis II launch until April 2026, a slip of seven months from the previous launch date in ...

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.

Orion's reentry followed a sharply angled trajectory, during which the capsule fell at an incredible speed before deploying three red and white parachutes. As the mission finished its trip of over ...

After NASA’s Orion spacecraft was recovered at the conclusion of the Artemis 1 test flight and transported to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, its heat shield was removed from the crew ...

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 ...

NASA’s Orion spacecraft had a view of both Earth and the Moon during the Artemis I mission. NASA via AP Taking the heat To understand what exactly happened to Orion, let’s rewind the story. As ...