Tag: Heat Shield
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Here’s what to expect from the fiery, 14-minute return of Artemis II
Death, taxes, and the gravitationally bound return of the Artemis II mission on Friday evening. These are the only certainties in life. Even if the four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft discovered a serious flaw in their spacecraft today—and to be clear, from recent images reviewed by NASA experts, everything looks just fine—there is…
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Artemis II returns to Earth after historic 10-day mission around the Moon
After 10 days, over 800,000 km traveled, and a historic flyby of the Moon, Artemis II returned to Earth on Friday evening. Orion CM-003 Integrity, which served as the home for the mission’s four-person crew since April 1, reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean before ultimately splashing down off the coast of San Diego,…
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Is Orion’s heat shield really safe? New NASA chief conducts final review on eve of flight.
WASHINGTON, DC—This week, NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, said he has “full confidence” in the space agency’s plans to use the existing heat shield to protect the Orion spacecraft during its upcoming lunar mission. Isaacman made the determination after briefings with senior leaders at the agency and a half-day review of NASA’s findings with outside…
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Starship’s heat shield appears to have performed quite well in test
One of the more curious aspects of the 10th flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket on Tuesday was the striking orange discoloration of the second stage. This could be observed on video taken from a buoy near the landing site as the vehicle made a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. This color—so different from the…
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After critics decry Orion heat shield decision, NASA reviewer says agency is correct
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 decision. “Expediency won over safety and good materials science and engineering. Sad day for NASA,” Ed Pope, an expert in advanced materials…
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Heat Shield for EFT-1 Orion arrives at KSC
The processing flow is heating up for the first Orion set to launch into space, as key elements of the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) mission arrive for integration at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). With the inert Launch Abort System (LAS) now pieced together, Wednesday saw the arrival of Orion’s Heat Shield, flown in…