Orion (spacecraft)

The Orion spacecraft is a NASA space vehicle designed to carry human crews on proposed missions to the moon and, possibly, to Mars as well. Technically called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the spacecraft was named after the constellation Orion, a well-known star pattern said to be a legendary hunter from Greek mythology. The ship consists of a crew module that can hold up to four astronauts. The crew module was built by the American aerospace company Lockheed Martin while the service module, which powers the craft, was constructed by the European Space Agency.

The Orion spacecraft was first proposed in the early 2000s and went through several evolutions due to NASA budget cuts. The project received new life in 2017 when NASA committed to sending humans back to the moon during the 2020s. Orion will serve as the crew vehicle for these missions, which are known as the Artemis Program. In 2022, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft successfully completed a lunar flyby and safely splashed down back on Earth. A human mission to orbit the moon was scheduled for 2025, while a mission to land on the moon was set for 2026.

Background

In the late 1950s and 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a technological competition in the emerging field of space exploration. The so-called Space Race resulted in a concerted effort by the United States to be the first nation to land astronauts on the moon. Scientists and engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) worked tirelessly during the 1960s to design, build, and test a rocket and crewed vehicle that would help reach its goal.

The Apollo Program achieved its ultimate success on July 20, 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface. Seven more Apollo missions followed, with six successfully landing on the moon. However, the Apollo Program fell victim to budget cuts in the early 1970s, and the last moon landing occurred in December 1972.

For more than forty years, human space exploration focused on crewed orbital missions, the construction of the International Space Station (ISS), and uncrewed missions to study the solar system. Some attempts were made to restart crewed flights to the moon, but funding issues typically derailed them. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump instructed NASA to change its focus to human missions to the moon. The effort was named the Artemis Program after the Greek goddess of the hunt and twin sister of Apollo. The project’s original goals were to land humans on the moon by 2024 and establish a space station in lunar orbit and a lunar base that could be used to help launch future crewed missions to Mars.

Overview

In appearance, the Orion spacecraft bears a resemblance to the conical-shaped Apollo craft of the 1960s and early 1970s, but it is much larger and contains state-of-the-art electronics and computer technology. The spacecraft is about 50 feet (15 meters) tall, which includes the crew and service modules and the launch abort system, which will separate the craft from the rocket if something goes wrong during launch. The crew and service modules together stand about 26 feet (8 meters) tall. Orion has a 17-foot (5.2-meter) diameter at its base and weighs about 17,000 pounds (7,700 kilograms).

The service module, which was constructed by the European Space Agency, is responsible for the craft’s powers, life support, and propulsion systems. The service module contains thirty-three engines, which will propel the ship after launch until it is jettisoned prior to reentry. On reentry, the crew capsule is protected by a heat shield that can keep the crew safe from temperatures reaching 5000 degrees Fahrenheit (2760 Celsius) as the ship blazes through Earth’s atmosphere at 24,700 miles per hour (39,750 kilometers per hour).

The aerospace company Lockheed Martin began developing the Orion spacecraft in 2004. The craft was to be the main crew vehicle for NASA’s Constellation Program, which was to take astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and eventually land on the moon by 2020. The program’s ultimate goal was a crewed mission to Mars. However, the Constellation Program was cancelled in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama. Obama wanted NASA to focus on missions to the ISS as well as private space flight.

Rather than abandon the Orion spacecraft, on which the agency had already spent more than $5 billion, NASA decided to repurpose the craft for a new set of priorities. In 2014, Orion passed its first milestone when it successfully flew an uncrewed test flight on two Earth orbits 3,600 miles (5,794 kilometers) above the surface. In 2017, the administration of Donald Trump again shifted NASA’s priorities, calling for a renewed focus on reaching the moon. As a result, NASA again changed the priorities of the Orion project for a moon landing.

Orion was to be the crewed spacecraft for the Artemis Program, which was originally scheduled to land humans on the moon by 2024. Project delays, coupled with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, pushed back that original timetable.

On November 16, 2022, the Artemis I mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center when an Orion spacecraft blasted off from atop the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket system ever developed. Artemis I spent more than three weeks in space, orbiting the moon before returning to Earth on December 11. The Orion capsule successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and was returned to NASA in Florida by month’s end. Scientists planned to study the craft’s instruments and heat shield to see how it performed during the flight. They also planned to examine the Orion’s “Moonikins," mannequins wearing the First-Generation Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit. Scientists hoped to determine how much radiation and stress humans may experience on future Artemis flights.

NASA announced its plans to launch an Orion spacecraft carrying its first human crew into a lunar orbit in 2025 as part of the Artemis II mission. Artemis III was scheduled for 2026. During this mission, the first humans would land on the moon since 1972.

Bibliography

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