Engineers and technicians inspect the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield for the mission Artemis I at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion returned to Kennedy on Dec. 30, 2022, after Dec. 11 swam into the Pacific after a mission 1.4 million miles beyond the moon and back.
In this photo, technicians inside the crew module closely examine the heat shield, which withstood temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The heat shield will be removed from the spacecraft and taken to another facility for further detailed inspection.
Teams are also testing the capsule’s windows, along with the thermal shields on the rear envelope panels that cover the spacecraft to protect it from the harsh conditions of both space and high-speed, high-heat reentry.
On top of the capsule is the vertical crew module deflation system, which is a group of five airbags that position the capsule right side up after landing and were deflated before being transported back to Kennedy. While still in the facility’s transfer aisle, engineers are in the process of removing the outer avionics boxes. Technicians will take samples of the air inside the capsule before moving it to a service stand that will allow access to the interior. After opening the hatch, technicians will remove the internal avionics boxes and payloads. After extensive inspection and testing, the avionics boxes will be reused for the Artemis II mission.
Decommissioning will continue in the coming months with the removal of dangerous goods that remain on board. Once complete, the spacecraft will head to NASA’s Glenn Neil A. Armstrong Test Center for acoustic vibration testing and other environmental tests.
