Orion
NASA's deep-space crew capsule, flying humans toward the Moon on Artemis II.
Last refreshed: 2 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Is Orion's heat shield safe enough to bring four astronauts home from the Moon?
Latest on Orion
- What is the Orion spacecraft?
- Orion is NASA's crew capsule built by Lockheed Martin for deep-space missions. It is currently flying four astronauts on Artemis II toward the Moon.Source: Artemis II mission events
- What happened to Orion's heat shield on Artemis I?
- The heat shield experienced material spalling, bolt erosion, and fragmenting ablator. NASA adopted a lower-heating reentry trajectory for Artemis II rather than replacing the shield.Source: NASA OIG May 2024 report
- How big is the Orion capsule?
- Orion can carry up to four crew members on deep-space missions. It is roughly 5 metres in diameter, larger than the Apollo capsule.Source: NASA technical documentation
- Who built the Orion spacecraft?
- The crew module is built by Lockheed Martin. The European Service Module, providing propulsion and power, was built by Airbus under contract to ESA.Source: NASA/ESA programme records
- Will Orion land on the Moon?
- Not on Artemis II, which is a lunar flyby without landing. Artemis III is the planned crewed landing mission, though its timeline has been delayed.Source: NASA mission planning
Background
Orion is NASA's crew capsule currently carrying four astronauts on the Artemis II mission, launched 1 April 2026. After completing a manual Proximity operations demonstration, the crew guided the capsule to within approximately 10 metres of the spent Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage before the all-important translunar injection burn window opened.
Developed by Lockheed Martin under contract since 2006, Orion is designed for deep-space travel beyond low Earth orbit. It flew its first uncrewed test (Exploration Flight Test-1) in 2014 and its first Artemis mission (uncrewed) in 2022. The capsule carries a European Service Module built by Airbus, which provides propulsion, power, and life support. Artemis I revealed heat shield damage: material spalling, bolt erosion, and fragmenting ablator. NASA's Independent Review Board report remains unpublished. The fix applied to Artemis II is a lower-heating reentry trajectory rather than a shield replacement.
Orion's per-unit cost contributes substantially to the ~$4 billion per-flight cost of each SLS mission, raising persistent questions about whether commercial alternatives could replace it. Its performance on Artemis II is the critical data point for NASA's case to continue the programme through Artemis III and beyond.
