Is Orion’s heat shield really safe? New NASA chief conducts final review on eve of flight.: “That level of openness and transparency is exactly what should be expected of NASA.”

44 points dannybeau9

atmospheric skip entry is new for spacecraft on the return journey and will likely be needed for returns from deeper space (mars and beyond) due to delta v requirements and current fuel capacity and capability

the knowledge gained here can make the next crafts far more able to handle skip reentry physics, this one can return from the moon without skip entry and just take a different path instead

i dont look forward to a future of more privately funded space travel that will give us no insight to stuff like this

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12 points blueb0g

Not that new, Apollo was capable of skip re entry

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2 points dannybeau9

didnt know that. cool!

was it used on any missions or just available if needed be?

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2 points MajorRocketScience

It was used on every mission except the LEO ones as far as I’m aware.

In fact, the Shuttle sort of used it as well, although it was a bit more active than the capsules are

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2 points PhoenixReborn

NASA repeatedly characterized Artemis I as the first skip re-entry for a human rated vehicle.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/orion-spacecraft-to-test-new-entry-technique-on-artemis-i-mission/

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1 points dannybeau9

that was also my understanding. ty for the link

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2 points Fluffy_Adagio8111

Agreeing with OP on this one.

Human certified hardware has not been deployed with a single flight test since early Apollo where loss of life was accepted.

This is where we are now.

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9 points nicko_rico

a lot of neat science inside, regarding testing to ensure the safety of the vehicle for Artemis II, as well as future missions

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-18 points Simple_Statement5795

Absolutely crazy the last version had problems and they didn't even test fly this changed one before putting humans on it. Hope it goes well.

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12 points Technical_Drag_428

Maybe take a second to really read what happened on the first one and you'll understand why they have confidence in this one.

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7 points blueb0g

Not every change needs to be flown before you fly a crew, or literally nothing would get done in human spaceflight.

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