It's alive! It's alive! Orion throws back its cover | Space picture of the day for April 22, 2025

The Orion Crew Module, also known as the Orion Environmental Test Article (ETA), underwent a jettison test of its forward bay cover at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. (Image credit: NASA/Jordan Salkin)

NASA's Orion test article was exposed to launch abort-level acoustics prior to testing its forward bay cover's ability to jettison at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. The cover is the last component of the spacecraft that must eject before parachutes deploy to ensure a safe landing.

What is it?

Although the setting might look like something out of a Mary Shelley novel or a noir film, it is actually a key test of NASA's next-generation space capsule in a state-of-the-art facility.

Engineers and technicians from NASA and Lockheed Martin subjected the Orion environmental test article to the extreme conditions Orion may experience in a launch abort scenario, including the jettison of its forward bay cover, the last component that must eject before the parachutes deploy for a safe landing.

Where is it?

The November 2024 test took place at the Space Environments Complex (SEC) at NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility (previously Plum Brook) in Sandusky, Ohio.

The SEC houses the world’s largest and most powerful space environment simulation facilities. The Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility (RATF), seen here, is the world’s most powerful spacecraft acoustic test chamber.

A full frame shot of NASA's Orion environmental test article as seen before its forward bay cover jettison test at the Neil Armstrong Test Article in Ohio. (Image credit: NASA/Jordan Salkin)

Why is it amazing?

Before this Orion capsule entered tests in support of the Artemis 2 mission — the first planned flight to return astronauts to the moon since the Apollo program — and before it became an environmental test article, it flew to the moon and back as the Artemis 1 mission Orion crew module.

Further, testing Orion at such high acoustic levels was a major milestone for the Artemis program.

"These tests are absolutely critical, because we have to complete all of these tests to say the spacecraft design is safe and we’re ready to fly a crew for the first time on Artemis 2," said Michael See, ETA vehicle manager, Orion Program. "This is the first time we’ve been able to test a spacecraft on the ground in such an extreme abort-level acoustic environment."

Want to know more?

You can watch a video of the forward bay cover jettison test and read more about the trials at the Space Environments Complex. You can also read more about the Artemis 2 mission.