SANDUSKY, Ohio — Nearly a year of testing is wrapping up at the NASA Neil Armstrong Test Facility for the Orion space capsule, which orbited the Moon in 2022.
This post-mission testing comes as crews continue preparation work for the next launch in the Artemis mission, NASA’s program to return to the Moon.
🚀 WE. WENT!
— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) November 16, 2022
The @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion spacecraft launched the #Artemis I test flight to the Moon from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B. pic.twitter.com/MtN874l79q
"When we talk about going to the moon, it’s a totally different experience," said Debbie Korth, NASA Orion Deputy Program Manager. "It’s all about going back to stay. And I think I want Americans to look at this and think we’re a part of it."
This is the second major go-around for the Orion capsule, which previously underwent testing in Sandusky 2019 and 2020 before its 1.4 million mile trip around the Moon.
Much of the testing this past year involved scenarios the Orion capsule could encounter during launch or return to Earth with astronauts inside.
The experiments involved the capsule inside NASA's vacuum chamber, testing how the spacecraft could handle the elements.
"We can put a full-size vehicle in there, and we can test it up to 163 decibels," said Robert Overy, NASA Glenn project manager. "That’s an extreme environment that you will see in an abort scenario."
Overy compared 163 decibels to putting together two rock concerts.
"It’s loud," he smiled. "You come down and get next to the vehicle and take a deep breath and you’re like, ‘Wow, we get to work on something that’s historic.'"
"This is not about folks my age, this is about kids, and it’s about grandkids," said Paul Anderson, deputy program manager at Lockheed Martin, which partnered with NASA and designed and built the Orion capsule. "It’s going to be a sustainable program."
Testing is slated to wrap up here in Northeast Ohio next month.
After the capsule has completed testing, it's eventually slated to be displayed at the Smithsonian.
"As a little kid, I got to tour NASA and to be a part of it today, just a small part, it just means a lot," Overy said.
The next Artemis launch, Artemis 2, featuring astronauts inside the spacecraft orbiting the moon, is scheduled for September 2025.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.
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