14 Things You May Not Know About Orion
Space fans may know that the Lockheed Martin–built Orion is the only human-rated spacecraft designed to carry astronauts into deep space and safely bring them home. On Artemis II, that capability becomes reality, as Orion carries a crew of four beyond the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years, paving the way for a sustained lunar presence and future missions to Mars. But how well do you really know the spacecraft? Here are 14 facts you may not know about Orion as it prepares to make history on Artemis II.
1. There’s an exercise machine inside Orion and it’s similar to a rowing machine
The compact flywheel exercise machine is used for aerobic and strength workouts, and works similar to a rowing machine. All four astronauts have to exercise every day (except launch and landing days) to keep from losing bone mass. In order to exercise comfortably and efficiently, the machine will be placed on a 45 degree angle.
2. The energy dispersed by Orion’s heat shield during re-entry is about the same amount of energy of an EF3 tornado
The energy exuded by Orion’s heat shield as it comes back into Earth’s atmosphere is approximately 640 gigajoules. This amount of energy dispersed is about two times the amount of energy created by a spacecraft returning from the International Space Station.
3. Orion’s heat shield will get up to 5,000°F during re-entry, yet the inside will stay comfortable in the 70s.
The primary way Orion puts on its brakes before it splashes down is with its heatshield. As it screams through Earth’s atmosphere, friction and air resistance causes extreme temperatures on the heat shield reaching about 5,000°F during re-entry. These high temperatures are about 2.5x the temperature of lava and 66% hotter than spacecraft coming back from the International Space Station.
4. Returning from the Moon, Orion will go 24x faster than a speeding bullet
5. Orion will travel ~1000x farther into space than the International Space Station
6. There are 11 parachutes to slow down Orion in the Earth’s atmosphere and safely land on the ocean
After Orion’s heat shield scrubs off most of the Orion’s speed, the parachute system, with its 11 parachutes, will slow the crew module during the last part of re-entry from 324 mph to 17 mph for a soft ocean splashdown. Orion uses is three main parachutes to land, though it can land safely using only two. All three main parachutes combined would cover a football field from 10 yard line to 10 yard line.
7. The crew systems in Orion are designed to accommodate 99% of the human population by size.
Orion is designed to accommodate 99% of the human population, which is a larger range than every other NASA or Department of Defense project. The spacecraft can accommodate astronauts as small as a 4’10” and as tall as a 6’5”.
8. During the Artemis II mission, Orion will conduct a rendevous and proximity operations demonstration
As Orion orbits around the Earth, prior to its translunar injection burn, it will practice a maneuver with the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) to test the docking system of Orion that will be used during the Artemis III mission when the spacecraft docks with the human landing system (HLS).
9. Orion can operate in deep space for a long time
Orion has room for supplies and consumables to safely sustain a crew of four for up to 21 days. It can function unattended for six months in orbit when docked to the Gateway at the Moon. Orion has also been evaluated to support a 1,000 day mission to Mars when equipped with additional propulsion, habitats and supplies as part of a larger Mars transport system.
10. Orion’s crew module is rather roomy, sleeps four comfortably and has a private toilet
11. The computers on Orion are 20,000x faster than Apollo’s
Orion’s main computers provides significantly faster computing speed over other human spaceflight vehicles. The computing speed of each computer is about 25 times faster than the International Space Station’s computers, 400 times faster than the space shuttle’s and have four independent computers running in parallel for redundancy.
12. Artemis II will resuse flight-proven hardware from Artemis I
Artemis II won’t just build on the success of Artemis I, it will fly with parts that have already been to deep space and back. Ten components from the Artemis I Orion spacecraft are being reused on Artemis II, including nine avionics units that have already flown beyond the Moon. These include three inertial measurement units, one GPS receiver, four phased-array antennas, and one vision processing unit. Even one of the crew seats flying on Artemis II has already been to lunar distance and safely returned, giving the first crewed Orion mission an added layer of confidence from flight-proven hardware.
13. Orion is built using cutting-edge manufacturing technologies
Advanced manufacturing is transforming how Orion is built. The spacecraft includes more than 150 3D-printed parts on Artemis II—up from just four on Orion’s first test flight in 2014. Engineers also use augmented reality during assembly, reducing training time by up to 85% and cutting some manufacturing tasks from eight hours down to just 45 minutes.
14. Orion can land upright, upside down, or sideways and it can flip itself upright
Post-splashdown, Orion may be in any orientation. A system of five orange airbags inflates around the top of the spacecraft and helps right the capsule into an upright position so the crew can exit safely.