Vacuum Testing Complete on Artemis II Orion Spacecraft

The Artemis II Orion spacecraft hoisted by a crane inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, a team returns the Artemis II Orion spacecraft to the Final Assembly and Test cell from a vacuum chamber inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it underwent vacuum testing.

NASA/Eric Hernandez

NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II test flight returned to the Final Assembly and System Testing (FAST) cell following completion of the second round of vacuum chamber testing on Dec. 5 inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After returning to the FAST cell, the four main batteries – which supply power to many Orion systems – were installed in the crew module. The batteries returned to NASA Kennedy from their supplier, EaglePicher Technologies, earlier this month. Solar array wings will also be installed onto the spacecraft by international partner ESA (European Space Agency) and its contractor Airbus in early 2025.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.

Image credit: NASA/Eric Hernandez