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, ...

When NASA’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December 2022 after its uncrewed Artemis I flight, engineers ...

The heat shield on Orion is made of 186 blocks of a special material called AVCOAT, which is designed to both provide insulation against the heat, and to burn off in a controlled, predictable way, ...

Within hours of NASA announcing its decision to fly the Artemis II mission aboard an Orion spacecraft with an unmodified heat shield, critics assailed the space agency, saying it had made the wrong ...

As the Artemis II mission prepares to take off in March, a retired NASA engineer and astronaut has raised concerns about the Orion spacecraft's heat shield. The performance of the heat shield is ...

Technicians inspect the heat shield on the Orion capsule after Artemis 1. The heat shield lost most charred material than expected, but NASA managers said it was not a safety issue. Credit: NASA/Skip ...

Despite problems during the unpiloted Artemis I reentry, the Artemis II crew is confident their heat shield will protect them ...

When four astronauts set off on their historic trip around the moon in NASA’s 16.5-foot-wide Orion spacecraft, they knew they’d be testing a known flaw with their spacecraft — one that had some ...

Following the first human journey around the moon in more than half a century, all eyes will be on the heat shield that will protect the crew as they return to Earth — a heat shield, which was damaged ...