Future heat shields will feature design changes to fix the issue —specifically, a more permeable layer of outer material — NASA officials said. But for Artemis II, the heat shield remains the same.
To avoid risk to the astronauts, mission managers’ strategy is to alter the capsule’s re-entry path. Ordinarily, before it begins its final descent, the Orion spacecraft is meant to dip briefly into the atmosphere, then pop up again — like a stone skipping on the water’s surface — to reduce heat stress and G-force on the capsule. It will not do that during this flight, however, instead descending faster and at a steeper angle to minimize the time it is exposed to the most extreme temperatures.
The new plan came after extensive testing, according to NASA, and Isaacman said in January that he had “full confidence” in the heat shield.
Wiseman gave a similar assessment: “If we stick to
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