Artemis II Orion: logos and testing

On 28 June, the integrated Orion spacecraft, made of the crew module, crew module adapter, the second European Service Module and spacecraft adapter, was lifted back into the same altitude chamber where it underwent electromagnetic testing a few weeks ago at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This time, engineers tested Orion in a near-vacuum environment designed to simulate the space conditions the vehicle will travel through during its mission towards the Moon. Teams emptied the altitude chamber of air, a process taking up to a day, to create a very low-pressure environment over 2000 times lower and more vacuum-like than inside your vacuum cleaner.

The next step for Orion will take place after the summer: the installation of its four, seven-metre long solar arrays that the European Service Module will use to power the vehicle and its crew of four towards the Moon and back.