Artemis II In Work Station

The heat shield for Orion’s Artemis II mission is in view secured on a work stand in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 9, 2020. Work continues to prepare the heat shield for flight, including applying Avcoat, an ablative material that will provide thermal protection. The heat shield, measuring roughly 16 feet in diameter, will protect astronauts upon re-entry on the second mission of Artemis. Artemis II, the first crewed mission in the series of missions to the Moon and on to Mars, will confirm all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard.