After the historic lunar flyby and the beginning of the return trajectory to Earth, the Artemis II mission entered the eighth day of its journey this Wednesday (8). Part of the day is reserved for preparing the crew and the ship for the reunion with Earth’s gravity.
Arrival is scheduled for Friday night (10), when the Orion capsule will re-enter the atmosphere — considered one of the most critical stages of the mission.
The main concern is related to the thermal shield, a coating applied to the lower part of the spacecraft, responsible for protecting astronauts from extreme temperatures during descent.
The component is similar to the one used in , which showed unexpected damage after returning in 2022. See below:
At the time, the problem led NASA to open an investigation. “This is a defective heat shield. There is no doubt: this is not the heat shield NASA would like to provide its astronauts,” said former astronaut Danny Olivas, who was part of the independent review team.
The Orion capsule returned from the Artemis I mission with a heat shield full of holes and cracks.
The re-entry of Artemis II will occur when Orion dives into the Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed — greater than 30 times the speed of sound —, requiring perfect functioning of the thermal shield to guarantee the safety of the crew.
The process causes a violent compression of air molecules that can heat the outside of the spacecraft to more than 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are inside the Orion capsule.
