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NASA’s first Artemis Moon mission a flawless success after Orion splashdown

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NASA has successfully recovered an uncrewed version of its Orion crew capsule, marking the flawless completion of the spacecraft’s first Moon mission and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s first launch.

Six years behind schedule, roughly $20 billion over budget, and costing taxpayers almost $50 billion through its first full flight test, anything less than near-perfection would have been a moderate scandal. But to the credit of NASA and its contractors, who have all worn excuses in the spirit of ‘perfection takes time’ threadbare, the international team behind Artemis I appears to have actually delivered on those implied promises. While some small bugs were unsurprisingly discovered over the 25-day mission, a collection of excellent post-launch NASASpaceflight.com interviews confirm that each major part of the SLS rocket performed about as flawlessly as their respective teams could have hoped for.

Originally intended to launch in late 2016, the first SLS rocket lifted off with the second space-bound Orion spacecraft on November 16th, 2022. Propelled by its European Service Module (ESM), Orion passed the Moon around November 21st. It then entered an unusual distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the Moon on November 26th, reaching a record distance of 432,200 kilometers (268,563 mi) from Earth in the process. After less than a week in lunar orbit, Orion departed DRO on December 1st and began a long journey back to Earth.

On December 11th, about four weeks after liftoff, Orion separated from its disposable service module (~$400 million) and slammed into Earth’s atmosphere traveling around 11 kilometers per second (~25,000 mph). In another credit to NASA and capsule contractor Lockheed Martin, Orion’s reentry, descent, and splashdown all went perfectly. After its ablative heat shield did most of the work slowing it down, the spacecraft deployed parachutes and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean some 240 kilometers (~150 mi) off the coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, southwest of California.

Taking full advantage of the fact that Orion and SLS are a government program and continuing in the footsteps of the Apollo Program, the US Navy was tasked with Orion spacecraft recovery. To that end, it deployed USS Portland – a 208-meter-long amphibious transport ship crewed by hundreds of sailors – to recover Artemis I’s Orion, which was completed without issue using the ship’s Navy helicopters, fast boats, and floodable well-deck.

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(NASA)
The USS Portland hovers in the distance as a Navy team prepares to recover Orion. (NASA)
Only a tiny portion of the first deep space Orion capsule will be reused. (NASA)

Following capsule recovery, which wrapped up almost seven hours after splashdown, it’s safe to say that NASA’s Artemis I mission was a spectacular, near-perfect success. Only a few aspects detract from the extraordinary performance of the spacecraft. Most significantly, despite being half a decade behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, Artemis I’s Orion capsule and service module did not fly with or test a functioning docking port or Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). Those systems will not be tested in space until Artemis II, Orion’s first astronaut launch, inherently reducing the risk-reduction and predictive value of the flight test.

Additionally, Artemis I launched Orion to a distant retrograde lunar orbit. No future NASA missions are scheduled to use DRO. For the time being, Artemis II will be a free-return lunar flyby mission, meaning that Orion will never enter orbit around the Moon – the safest possible lunar trajectory for its crewed debut. For Artemis III and all future Orion missions, the spacecraft will enter a different near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon – similar to DRO in spirit but entirely different in practice. That again slightly reduces the value of Orion’s spectacular performance during Artemis I.

Waiting for Artemis II

Finally, due to a series of decisions and the shockingly slow expected performance NASA and its contractors, the next Orion and SLS launch is unlikely to occur before 2025. Recently discussed by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a September 2022 report [PDF], the cause is strange. GAO says that “NASA estimates it will require ~27 months between Artemis I and Artemis II due to Orion integration activities and reuse of avionics from the Artemis I crew capsule on…Artemis II.” In other words, even though Artemis I was near-flawless, Artemis II will be delayed partly because of an attempt to reuse a tiny portion of its successfully recovered capsule.

All four proposed SLS variants.

Ars Technica’s Eric Berger recently provided another tidbit of painful context with the discovery that the decision to reuse the first deep space Orion’s avionics boxes was made eight years ago to close a “$100 million budget hole.” Inexplicably, NASA and Lockheed Martin believe it will take more than “two years to re-certify the flight hardware.” Berger explains that years ago, NASA only intended to launch SLS’s first Block 1 variant once, and expected that it would take at least three years to retrofit the rocket’s sole launch tower for the rocket’s Block 1B upgrade and second launch overall.

Years later, parochial pork-hungry members of Congress leaped on an opportunity to force NASA to build a second launch tower to help avoid that three-year gap between launches. Ironically, that second tower, ML-2, is now expected to cost anywhere from 2.5 to 4 times more than its original $383 million price tag and is years behind schedule. Meanwhile, SLS Block 1B is also years behind schedule, which led NASA to decide to launch SLS Block 1 three times instead of just once.

(NASA)
The Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are already well under construction. (NASA)

Ultimately, that means that the bizarrely slow recertification of eight Artemis I Orion avionics boxes – not the SLS rocket, ground systems, or any rework required after their launch debut – is now “the primary critical path for…Artemis II.” As a result, Berger estimates that delays caused by the decisions NASA made to save $100 million almost a decade ago will likely end up costing taxpayers $1 billion.

Artemis II is unlikely to launch less than 27 months after Artemis I, pegging the launch no earlier than February 2025. That gap of more than two years is just 20% shorter than the 33-month gap a NASA advisor once said could raise safety concerns because of the loss of experience that would result, which factored into the decision to build a second launch tower. Ultimately, NASA appears to have secured another very large chunk of time to ensure that Artemis II – like Artemis I – goes as perfectly as possible when the time finally comes.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Waymo temporarily halts service in select San Francisco and LA areas amid protests

The suspensions came after several Waymo Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis were vandalized and set ablaze during the demonstrations.

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Credit: ABC7/YouTube

Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, has suspended its driverless taxi operations in parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco amid violent protests linked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the state. 

The suspensions came after several Waymo Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis were vandalized and set ablaze during the demonstrations.

Waymo Catches Strays Amid Anti-ICE Protests

Protests erupted in Los Angeles and San Francisco in response to the Trump administration’s immigration raids, which ultimately resulted in California Governor Gavin Newsom calling the White House’s deployment of National Guard troops unconstitutional. 

Amidst the protests, images and videos emerged showing several Waymo robotaxis being defaced and destroyed. At least five Waymo robotaxis ended up being caught in the crossfire, and at least one vehicle ended up being burned to the ground. 

The incident resulted in the Los Angeles Police Department advising people to avoid downtown areas due to toxic fumes from the robotaxis’ burning lithium-ion batteries. As noted in a KRON4 report, Waymo ultimately halted service in affected areas “out of an abundance of caution.”

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Robotaxi Sentiments

The cost of the attacks is notable. Each Waymo robotaxi is valued between $150,000 and $200,000, per a 2024 Wall Street Journal report. Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that Waymo’s robotaxis ended up on the receiving end of angry protesters. On February 24, a Jaguar I-PACE robotaxi was set ablaze and vandalized by a crowd in San Francisco. Videos taken at the time showed a mob of people attacking the vehicle. 

Despite the recent attacks on its robotaxis, Waymo has stated it has “no reason to believe” its vehicles were specifically targeted during the protests, as per a report from The Washington Post. A company spokesperson also noted that some of the Waymo robotaxis that were defaced and destroyed during the violent demonstrations had been completing drop-offs near the protest zones.

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Investor's Corner

xAI targets $5 billion debt offering to fuel company goals

Elon Musk’s xAI is targeting a $5B debt raise, led by Morgan Stanley, to scale its artificial intelligence efforts.

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(Credit: xAI)

xAI’s $5 billion debt offering, marketed by Morgan Stanley, underscores Elon Musk’s ambitious plans to expand the artificial intelligence venture. The xAI package comprises bonds and two loans, highlighting the company’s strategic push to fuel its artificial intelligence development.

Last week, Morgan Stanley began pitching a floating-rate term loan B at 97 cents on the dollar with a variable interest rate of 700 basis points over the SOFR benchmark, one source said. A second option offers a fixed-rate loan and bonds at 12%, with terms contingent on investor appetite. This “best efforts” transaction, where the debt size hinges on demand, reflects cautious lending in an uncertain economic climate.

According to Reuters sources, Morgan Stanley will not guarantee the issue volume or commit its own capital in the xAI deal, marking a shift from past commitments. The change in approach stems from lessons learned during Musk’s 2022 X acquisition when Morgan Stanley and six other banks held $13 billion in debt for over two years.

Morgan Stanley and the six other banks backing Musk’s X acquisition could only dispose of that debt earlier this year. They capitalized on X’s improved operating performance over the previous two quarters as traffic on the platform increased engagement around the U.S. presidential elections. This time, Morgan Stanley’s prudent strategy mitigates similar risks.

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Beyond debt, xAI is in talks to raise $20 billion in equity, potentially valuing the company between $120 billion and $200 billion, sources said. In April, Musk hinted at a significant valuation adjustment for xAI, stating he was looking to put a “proper value” on xAI during an investor call.

As xAI pursues this $5 billion debt offering, its financial strategy positions it to lead the AI revolution, blending innovation with market opportunity.

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SpaceX to debut new Dragon capsule in Axiom Space launch

Ax-4’s launch marks the debut of SpaceX’s latest Crew Dragon and pushes Axiom closer to building its own space station.

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spacex-dragon-axiom-ax-4-mission-iss
(Credit: SpaceX)

Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission targets the International Space Station (ISS) with a new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

The Axiom team will launch a new SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT). The Ax-4 mission launch was initially set for Tuesday, June 10, but was delayed by one day due to expected high winds.

As Axiom Space’s fourth crewed mission to the ISS, Ax-4 marks the debut of an updated SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. “This is the first flight for this Dragon capsule, and it’s carrying an international crew—a perfect debut. We’ve upgraded storage, propulsion components, and the seat lash design for improved reliability and reuse,” said William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability.

Axiom Space is a Houston-based private space infrastructure company. It has been launching private astronauts to the ISS for research and training since 2022, building expertise for its future station. With NASA planning to decommission the ISS by 2030, Axiom has laid the groundwork for the Axiom Station, the world’s first commercial space station. The company has already begun construction on its ISS replacement.

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The Ax-4 mission’s research, spanning biological, life, and material sciences and Earth observation, will support this ambitious goal. Contributions from 31 countries underscore the mission’s global scope. The four-person crew will launch from Launch Complex 39A, embarking on a 14-day mission to conduct approximately 60 scientific studies.

“The AX-4 crew represents the very best of international collaboration, dedication, and human potential. Over the past 10 months, these astronauts have trained with focus and determination, each of them exceeding the required thresholds to ensure mission safety, scientific rigor, and operational excellence,” said Allen Flynt, Axiom Space’s chief of mission services.

The Ax-4 mission highlights Axiom’s commitment to advancing commercial space exploration. By leveraging SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and conducting diverse scientific experiments, Axiom is paving the way for its Axiom Station. This mission not only strengthens international collaborations but also positions Axiom as a leader in the evolving landscape of private space infrastructure.

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