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Artemis 1’s Orion Spacecraft Withstood the Heat of Re-entry in a Critical Test for Humans’ Return to the Moon. Now, NASA Will Loan the Historic Capsule to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
The exact timeline for the spacecraft’s display hasn’t been announced, but the artifact will fit into an upcoming exhibition on how humans have built a long-term presence in Earth orbit and laid the groundwork for farther space travel
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Tearing through Earth’s atmosphere at 24,581 miles per hour—some 24 times faster than a speeding bullet—the Orion spacecraft endured harrowingly high temperatures as it re-entered at the conclusion of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission on December 11, 2022. The capsule became enveloped in a cloud of electrically charged plasma, and its heat shield reached nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or about half as hot as the surface of the sun.
All of this was planned. As a spacecraft moves from the airless vacuum of space back into the Earth’s atmosphere, the friction with air particles and the object’s sheer speed generate incredible temperatures. And Orion was traveling extra quickly: more than 7,000 mph faster than a spacecraft returning from the International Space Station.
But even as the air around the spacecraft erupted in blazing heat, the capsule’s internal temperature stayed comfortable, in the mid-70s. One of the key goals of the uncrewed, 25-day mission, the first in NASA’s program to return humans to the moon, was to assess Orion’s safety for future human occupants. Re-entry proved a crucial test.
After Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, engineers studied it carefully to see how it held up. They found that the heat shield had worn away in more than 100 places. But what they learned from the spacecraft offered a valuable lesson; it informed a new re-entry trajectory for Artemis 2, the mission that carried four astronauts around the moon in April.
In the near future, that Orion capsule from Artemis 1 will go on view to the public in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
“I’m proud to officially announce that NASA will loan the Artemis 1 Orion capsule to the National Air and Space Museum,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at a rededication event for the museum’s 50th anniversary on July 1. “Artemis 1 was just the beginning, an uncrewed mission that validated the critical hardware needed to send the Artemis 2 crew on their epic journey of discovery and set up for all the exciting Artemis missions to follow.”
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The details around the loan have yet to be revealed, but Orion will ultimately be displayed in the new “At Home in Space” gallery, which opens on October 30.
At that time, the exhibition will showcase a quarter-scale model of the spacecraft. After the loaned object arrives and museum conservation experts evaluate its condition, the space-flown original will replace the model.
Quick facts: The Orion spacecraft
- Orion was designed to accommodate most of the human population, able to host astronauts between 4-foot-10 and 6-foot-5.
- Traveling at its re-entry speed, Orion could make a flight between Los Angeles and New York City in just six minutes. A commercial flight takes about 5.5 hours.
Conversations about the loan have been ongoing for many years between the museum and NASA, says Jennifer Levasseur, a curator in the space history department. The planning process to acquire an Artemis spacecraft for this gallery began “before Artemis 1 even flew.”
Levasseur estimates that the museum will close the gallery for about six weeks to install Orion sometime in 2027. Other objects must be moved out of the way to clear a path for the spacecraft. “We have an engineering study already to show us exactly how to get it into the building and how to rotate it to get it through the entryway to the gallery,” Levasseur says.
The “At Home in Space” exhibition examines the post-Apollo era of spaceflight and the journey to determining how humans might attain a long-term presence in space. It details the space shuttle programs and the International Space Station, even featuring an immersive, walk-through mock-up of the station’s Destiny module, which hosts the American research projects. It also features the Artemis program.
When the museum was developing this gallery, “it was really important that we represented the next step in human spaceflight,” says Emily Margolis, curator of contemporary spaceflight. The Orion capsule “is the perfect representation of what happens next.”
Standing in front of the full-size spacecraft “helps visitors understand the humanity behind it,” Margolis says. “You can imagine what it’s like for a crew to be inside of there and to be very, very far away from home.”
The Orion capsule from Artemis 1 transported three mannequins that were meant to collect data on how the flight would affect the human body—notably, a female body, as the Artemis program prepared to send the first woman to the moon. One of the mannequins, named Commander Moonikin Campos by a public vote, honored the NASA engineer Arturo Campos, who played a key role in delivering the Apollo 13 astronauts to safety in 1970 after an oxygen tank malfunction. The other two, named Zohar and Helga, were mannequin torsos made with slices of plastic that simulated soft tissues, bones, lungs and female organs.
During the Artemis 2 mission, a second Orion spacecraft carried astronauts on their lunar flyby. After the capsule and its four crew members safely splashed down in the Pacific, NASA mission specialist Christina Koch was photographed giving Orion a hug.
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Additional Orion spacecraft will fly in the future, and they are intended to be reused. In the Artemis 4 mission, slated for no sooner than 2028, an Orion capsule will carry astronauts on their mission to return to the lunar surface.
“At some point, I think the museum would certainly hope to permanently collect the spacecraft that was [of] the most historic significance in the Artemis program, and that hasn’t flown yet,” Levasseur says. Previously, the museum waited for several years to acquire Discovery, the most-used vehicle in the space shuttle program. In the meantime, it displayed Enterprise, the first space shuttle to be built. “So this is a familiar territory for the museum,” she adds.
When Orion takes its place in the gallery, it will sit among halls that host representations of some of the biggest accomplishments in aerospace history, from the original Wright Flyer that made the first sustained and powered flight to the Apollo 11 command module that carried the first humans to walk on the moon.
“Each of these achievements began with an idea that many thought was impossible,” Isaacman said. “This is why places like this museum matter so much. They tell the story of great triumphs of years past and instill the confidence that we can do it again, only better than ever before.”