Now that the four astronauts who flew around the moon are safely home, NASA is investigating how its spacecraft fared during the final minutes of the Artemis II mission.
The Orion capsule’s heat shield — the protective layer at the bottom engineered to prevent it from burning up during the plunge through Earth’s atmosphere — had a known design flaw. During the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022, parts had cracked and broken off during atmospheric re-entry.
Due to the fact that of that, the Artemis II crew descended faster and at a steeper angle than the path originally planned for the Orion spacecraft, in order to minimize the time it was exposed to the most extreme temperatures.
That approach accomplished its goal — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen emerged in good health and good spirits.
Now, the question is: How well did the heat shield actually protect them?
In the hours after splashdown, space wonks noticed a large, unusual-looking white patch on the otherwise dark and scorched heat shield. The patch drew attention because it looked like it could be a sign of damage.
A white patch is visible on NASA’s Orion capsule as it descends under its main parachutes Friday. Josh Valcarcel / NASA
However, in response to a post on X from Eric Berger, an editor at Ars Technica, about the white patch, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the white spot was consistent with the agency’s expectations.
“No unexpected conditions were observed,” Isaacman wrote, adding, “the discoloration was not liberated material….”
