NASA engineers identified the root cause of damage to the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere during the final phase of the Artemis I mission, but the national agency did not say what the problem was or what steps were taken. It plans to ensure the safety of the crew on its next lunar missions.

During the unmanned test flight of Artemis I in December 2022, as Orion was returning to Earth after its flight to the Moon, the vehicle lost some of its heat shield covering. Part of the structure survived overheating, and the incident did not affect the course of the flight. If there were people on Orion, they would return home safely. However, tests showed that thermal protection did not behave as it should, according to the designers’ calculations.

Now the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration must decide what to do with the screen. If experts decide to make changes to the design, the Orion spacecraft will have to be partially disassembled. Therefore, in the best case, NASA will shift the launch date of the “Artemis II” lunar mission from the planned September 2025 to 2027.

Since there is no specific information about the reasons for damage to the heat shield, it is difficult to understand what decision to make.