Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Trio of Orion spacecraft prepped for NASA moon missions

By
Three NASA Orion spacecraft in production.
NASA/Lockheed Martin

NASA has shared an image of three spacecraft that will play a central role in its next three Artemis missions to the moon.

Having already successfully tested the Orion spacecraft on a lunar flyby at the end of last year after being blasted into space by NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket, the American space agency is now overseeing the building of three more Orion capsules for upcoming Artemis missions.

Recommended Videos

In the image (top), the Orion craft for Artemis II is seen on the right, inside the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis III is on the left and Artemis IV in the middle.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Orion manufacturer Lockheed Martin tweeted the same image with the comment: “The future of @NASA_Orion is looking pretty good.”

Related

Seeing triple! 🤯

The future of @NASA_Orion is looking pretty good! The crew modules for #Artemis II, III and IV are in different production phases at @NASAKennedy in preparation for bringing astronauts back to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/aFjPrUy0Iq

— Lockheed Martin Space (@LMSpace) July 14, 2023

Each Orion capsule is in a different stage of production as technicians and engineers prepare the spacecraft to carry astronauts toward the moon on the upcoming missions, NASA said.

Technicians recently installed the heat shield on the Artemis II crew module, and teams are aiming to carry out acoustic testing in the next few months. When ready, the crew module will be linked to the service module in preparation for the lunar mission.

Artemis II is currently scheduled for November 2024 and will carry NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, plus Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The astronauts won’t land on the moon but instead perform a flyby, coming within a short distance of the lunar surface before returning home.

A successful mission will pave the way for Artemis III, which will endeavor to put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface. In this mission, Orion will carry the astronauts to a lunar orbit where they’ll transfer to a modified version of SpaceX’s Starship lander. While currently slated for 2025, sticking to that date depends to some extent on the progress SpaceX makes with the testing of its Super Heavy and Starship vehicle.

Artemis IV, meanwhile, is planned for 2028 and will also put astronauts onto the lunar surface.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA answers all of your questions on the troubled Starliner mission
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft docked at the space station.

NASA has updated an FAQ page on its website with the latest information on the state of Boeing Space’s beleaguered Starliner mission.

With so much speculation surrounding the state of the spacecraft, the page offers a definitive guide on where the mission is at right now.

Read more
NASA agreement with oil company BP could see its technology used on moon
An artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface.

While its technology is most often used to drill for oil here on Earth, oil company BP has entered into an agreement with NASA that could see its technology used to drill for resources on the moon.

The agreement was announced this week, and says the company will work with NASA to "support common goals in space exploration and energy production." That involved sharing technology and technical expertise, particularly about how energy production can operate in extreme environments. This could be applicable to future NASA plans for exploration of the moon and Mars, both of which will require significant power generation.

Read more
NASA’s axed moon rover could be resurrected by Intuitive Machines
An illustration of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on the lunar surface.

Lunar scientists were shocked and dismayed last month when NASA announced that it was canceling work on its moon rover, VIPER. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover was intended to search the moon's south pole for evidence of water there, but NASA said that it had to ax the project due to increasing costs.

This week, an open letter to Congress called the cancellation of the mission "unprecedented and indefensible," and questioned NASA's assertion that the cancellation of the mission would not affect plans to send humans to the moon. Scientists argued that the mission was fundamental to understanding the presence of water on the moon, which is a key resource for human exploration, as well as an issue of scientific interest.

Read more