
Image
Shortly after Artemis II splashdown on Friday, April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield.
Credit: U.S. Navy
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-on-track-for-future-missions-with-initial-artemis-ii-assessments/
Swapna Krishna
https://bsky.app/profile/swapnakrishna.com/post/3mjxrblkess2r
by Neaterntal

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“The crew and spacecraft were safeguarded by Orion’s thermal protection system as they traveled nearly 35 times the speed of sound during reentry. Initial inspections of the system found it performed as expected, with no unusual conditions identified. Diver imagery of the spacecraft’s heat shield initially taken after splashdown and further inspections on the recovery ship found the char loss behavior observed on Artemis I was significantly reduced, both in terms of quantity and size. Performance also was consistent with arc jet facility ground testing performed after Artemis I.”
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nasa-on-track-for-future-missions-with-initial-artemis-ii-assessments/
This is insanely cool oh my god
Why’s it looking at me?
God this is unsettling. I love it.
Well of course it didnt char, it’s clearly water-cooled