Specialists did not classify it as a catastrophic failure, but it was a clear sign that something was wrong and could put lives at risk. In response, NASA halted the program’s progress. Artemis II did not go forward until Orion went through a shield redesign, new materials testing, and a complete recalibration of the thermal models. The dream of returning to the moon was delayed for nearly two years.
Space history is replete with moments when a problem during reentry forced entire missions to be halted or reconsidered. The case of Soyuz 1 in 1967 is one of the most remembered. The pioneering capsule orbited Earth, but its parachute system failed during reentry, and the spacecraft hit the ground at full speed. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died and the program was suspended for 18 months.
For NASA, tragedy struck in 2003. A foam fragment hit the left wing of the shuttle Columbia during launch and damaged its heat shield. No one detected the flaw. Upon reentry, heat penetrated the structure and the spacecraft disintegrated. All seven crew members died. The shuttle program was halted for two years and eventually was canceled.
The moment when a fragment damaged the wing of the shuttle Columbia.
Photograph: NASA-TV/Getty Images
There is no room for improvisation in reentry. Artemis II is critical to the lunar program because it must demonstrate that the conditions are in place to safely carry human beings to, and return them from, the moon. If that final leg is not flawless, the program grinds to a halt.
Partly for this reason, the expected lunar landing was moved to Artemis IV, scheduled for before 2030. Artemis III will be an intermediate mission, less spectacular but more critical, and dedicated to validating systems, suits, and maneuvers. This will ensure that, when the time comes to set foot on the moon, as little as possible is left to chance.
This story originally appeared in WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
