About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Artemis II: no pressure
The Orion vehicle that will bring astronauts around the Moon and back for the first time in over 50 years was recently tested in a refurbished altitude chamber used during the Apollo era.
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. Orion remained in the altitude chamber’s low-pressure environment for around a week, with engineering teams monitoring the spacecraft’s systems and collecting data to qualify Orion for safely flying the Artemis II crew through the harsh environment of space.
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 (ESM) will use to power the vehicle and its crew of four towards the Moon and back during the Artemis II mission.
Rachid Amekrane, Orion-ESM US Campaign Lead at Airbus, stands next to the Orion spacecraft inside the altitude chamber at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Next to his hand are four nozzles; these are some of the reaction control system engines of the ESM. In total, there are 33 engines on the ESM: 24 reaction control system engines, eight auxiliary thrusters and a Shuttle-era main engine.
