The Orion spacecraft for Artemis I is prepared for testing at NASA’s Plum Brook Station. In this image, the spacecraft (crew module and European-built service module) is installed in a vacuum chamber where it will be subjected to temperatures ranging from -250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure it can withstand the harsh environment of space during Artemis missions. These extreme temperatures simulate flying in-and-out of sunlight and shadow in space. The spacecraft is surrounded by a thermal cage, called Heat Flux, which is a specially-designed system that heats specific parts of the spacecraft at any given time. Orion will also be surrounded on all sides by a set of large panels, called a cryogenic-shroud, that will provide the cold background temperatures of space.
