Orion spacecraft that completed 2022’s Artemis I mission has now returned to Ohio where it will undergo additional tests at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility.
These tests will enable engineers to stress-test Orion before its first crewed flight is scheduled for 2025 on Artemis II, among other aspects. In particular, test flights will assess its performance during reentry from deep space.
What happened to the spacecraft?
Orion successfully navigated its first solo mission through space without its crew on board – Artemis I – setting the stage for up to four astronauts aboard Orion in 2022 for its moon and back trip, the first human journey since over 50 years.
Orion made two close flybys of the moon during its trip, capturing stunning images of its surface. Additionally, Orion traveled 270,000 miles away from Earth intentionally stress testing its systems; further than any other vehicle before humans board.
Orion used parachutes to slowly transition from 300 miles per hour to a gentle splash in the Pacific Ocean, while engineers will study its impact. Engineers will analyze its splashdown to understand its results as well as observe its drogue and main parachutes’ performance; additionally they’ll take samples from Orion’s heat shield material so as to gauge its ability to withstand deep space temperatures.
What happened to the crew?
Orion performed several engine burns to reach an orbit more than 65,000 kilometers above the moon and give mission team members an opportunity to test how its systems would perform in such conditions.
This mission’s primary objective was to demonstrate Orion’s heat shield could adequately protect future astronauts as they return from lunar and mars missions. A piece of the shield will be delivered back to NASA’s Ames Research Center so engineers there can assess how well its material held up under such extreme reentry conditions.
Orion then performed a “skip entry,” in which it briefly entered Earth’s atmosphere to slow its descent before quickly rebounding back out again and heading away from our planet. This allowed Orion to avoid long-term health effects like cancer or cardiovascular disease from radiation build-up inside its crew capsule, saving some heat shield from being scorched during Earth’s atmospheric entry process. It also saved part of Orion’s heat shield from being damaged while traversing Earth’s atmosphere.
What happened to the satellites?
NASA is developing Orion, an advanced spacecraft capable of returning astronauts to the moon. Packed with cutting-edge technologies that could never have been imagined when Neil and Buzz landed on the Sea of Tranquility in 1969, Orion provides astronauts with life support systems, communications networks and radiation shielding protection while exploring deep space.
Artemis 1 demonstrated Orion is ready for future missions. However, engineers are still refining the system that connects its capsule with its control center and are studying data from sensors attached to three mannequins – including Shaun the Sheep!- that occupied Orion’s crew cabin, in order to evaluate how effectively these protected against space radiation.
Orion entered Earth’s atmosphere at approximately 300 miles per hour and used parachutes to gently land on a beach near Baja California near Baja California. First came smaller drogue parachutes followed by main parachutes which brought Orion safely down into the Pacific Ocean near Baja California for an easier landing experience.
What happened to the Earth?
NASA hopes to send astronauts on missions to the Moon and beyond with its Orion spacecraft, boasting technologies unimagined when Neil and Buzz Armstrong first set foot on its surface 45 years ago.
Orion will perform a high-speed reentry back into Earth’s atmosphere that could see it travel up to 40,000 feet (7200 meters). Equipped with one of the world’s strongest heat shields to shield astronauts from scorching temperatures that might otherwise damage anything other than itself, Orion should return safely.
Orion crew module uses three parachutes–pilot, drogue and main–to slow down, transition into vertical descent and make a soft splashdown. Parachute deployment starts just two seconds after jettisoning the forward bay cover.
Flight controllers will lose contact with Orion for five and a half minutes after its landing, until it floats to the surface and can be safely brought aboard an amphibious transport ship that will tow it onto a flooded well deck and lift it into a recovery cradle for return back to shore.