Orion Module Passes Space Environment Tests

Orion in a thermal cage in preparation for testing in the world’s largest thermal vacuum chamber at Plum Brook Station, Ohio. Image credit: ESA/S. Corvaja  

The Orion module, which consists of the NASA-built crew module and the ESA-built European Service Module, successfully finished thermal vacuum testing prior to being shipped to its final destination of Kennedy Space Center. There, Orion will undergo additional testing and the installation of other critical systems before the Artemis 1 launch. The service module contains fuel tanks as well as oxygen and water tanks that will be crucial for sending future astronauts to the Moon. Artemis 1 will ultimately be an uncrewed test flight around the Moon in preparation for Artemis 3, which, by 2024, will land the first astronauts on the Moon since the Apollo era. READ MORE