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Orion (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle)

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The crew vehicle for Artemis. A pressurised crew module 5.03 m in diameter carries up to four astronauts on deep-space missions, mated to the European Service Module built by Airbus and supplied by ESA, which provides main propulsion, power from four solar array wings, thermal control and consumables. Return from the Moon means re-entering at roughly 11 km/s, about forty per cent more energy than a return from low Earth orbit; this is absorbed by a 5 m AVCOAT ablative heat shield — the largest ever built — flown on a skip-entry profile that dips into the atmosphere, rises, then re-enters to shorten the range to the recovery zone. Artemis I returned with unexpected loss of charred material from that shield; a NASA investigation concluded in December 2024 that gases generated inside the Avcoat could not vent during the skip entry, and NASA chose to fly Artemis II on the existing shield with a modified entry trajectory.

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Assembled narrative · 1

Assembled from 24 blocks · 1 evidence · 17 related

  1. Story
  2. The crew vehicle for Artemis. A pressurised crew module 5.03 m in diameter carries up to four astronauts on deep-space missions, mated to the European Service Module built by Airbus and supplied by ESA, which provides main propulsion, power from four solar array wings, thermal control and consumables. Return from the Moon means re-entering at roughly 11 km/s, about forty per cent more energy than a return from low Earth orbit; this is absorbed by a 5 m AVCOAT ablative heat shield — the largest ever built — flown on a skip-entry profile that dips into the atmosphere, rises, then re-enters to shorten the range to the recovery zone. Artemis I returned with unexpected loss of charred material from that shield; a NASA investigation concluded in December 2024 that gases generated inside the Avcoat could not vent during the skip entry, and NASA chose to fly Artemis II on the existing shield with a modified entry trajectory.
  3. Knowledge
  4. Orion (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle)
  5. Apollo Lunar Module
  6. Connections
  7. Artemis I
  8. Artemis II
  9. Apollo Lunar Module
  10. Artemis I launches uncrewed from Launch Complex 39B
  11. Artemis I splashes down after 25 days
  12. NASA concludes the Orion heat shield investigation
  13. Artemis II launches — first crew beyond low Earth orbit since 1972
  14. Artemis II splashes down off San Diego
  15. Artemis III crewed low Earth orbit demonstration (planned)
  16. Artemis IV first crewed lunar south pole landing (planned)
  17. Apollo 11
  18. Apollo 13
  19. Orion (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle)
  20. Eagle lands at Tranquility Base
  21. Apollo 13 oxygen tank 2 ruptures
  22. Challenger lands in the Taurus–Littrow valley
  23. Evidence
  24. Concludes that gases generated within the Avcoat ablator could not vent during the skip-entry profile, causing cracking and material loss, and records NASA's decision to fly Artemis II on the existing heat shield with a modified entry trajectory.
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/atlas?object=VEHICLE_ORION&experience=VEHICLE_ORION