NASA has tested the Orion spacecraft ahead of its planned trip to the moon. The space agency simulated the extreme conditions that the capsule could face during a launch abort scenario, when it would need to push itself and its crew away from the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
NASA recently completed an 11-month crew module test campaign to ensure that Orion is ready for the Artemis 2 mission, which will send a crew of four astronauts around the Moon and back. The team of engineers conducted a grueling series of tests on Orion at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Flight Center in Sandusky, Ohio, simulating emergency scenarios during launch. Orion must separate from the SLS rocket and safely fall into the ocean during a launch abort scenario with astronauts on board.
“This event will be the highest stress and the greatest strain on either system,” said Robert Overy, Orion ETA project manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, in a statement. “We are taking a proven vehicle after a successful flight and pushing it to its limits. The safety of the astronaut crew depends on this test campaign.”
During the tests, NASA engineers simulated the noise level that could occur in the event of an emergency stop during launch, as well as electromagnetic effects from lightning strikes. The slow-motion video (above) shows how Orion’s docking module and parachute covers, as well as the five airbags on the top of the spacecraft that inflate during a fall, are tilted to the side. This process is necessary to open the spacecraft’s parachute system and deploy the airbags, which are designed to ensure the crew’s safe landing in the ocean.
The Orion module appears to have passed the test. “It was a successful test campaign,” said Overy. “The data matched the predicted models, and everything worked as expected after being exposed to nominal acoustic levels and acoustic levels encountered during startup interruption. We’re still analyzing the data, but preliminary results show that the vehicle and the facility performed as expected.”
NASA has been preparing for this test for more than a decade. In 2011, the space agency built the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility, the world’s most powerful acoustic test chamber for spacecraft, specifically for this test campaign. “These tests are extremely important because we have to complete all of these tests to say that the spacecraft structure is safe and we are ready for the first crew flight on Artemis II,” said Michael See, ETA chief of staff for NASA’s Orion program, in a statement. “This is the first time we’ve been able to test a spacecraft on the ground in such an extreme acoustic environment that could lead to a flight failure.”
In November 2022, Orion embarked on a 1.4 million-mile journey to the Moon and back. The Artemis 1 mission was a test flight of an unmanned capsule to prepare for its successor, Artemis 2. The mission was recognized as a success, despite the unexpected behavior of the Orion’s heat shield during reentry. The launch of Artemis 2 was originally scheduled for September 2025, but a recent program delay has pushed the Orion crew’s flight to April 2026. This mission is to prepare Artemis 3, the first human landing on the Moon since Apollo. The launch of Artemis 3 was also postponed until mid-2027.
NASA’s Artemis program has not been an easy task: the space agency was trying to reach the lunar surface ahead of China, but problems with the SLS rocket, Orion’s heat shield, and a number of other issues have complicated the lunar program, causing several delays and cost overruns. Fortunately, Orion is now ready to disconnect from the rocket in case of an emergency.
