Welcome to a special edition of Vector Star: Inside Orion — your quarterly update on the Orion program as we prepare for the 2026 Artemis II launch. As the cornerstone of NASA's Artemis program, Orion is the only spacecraft capable of taking humans into deep space and back, making it a critical component of our nation's space exploration efforts.
Mounted atop Orion, the Launch Abort System (LAS) stands ready to protect astronauts from the moment the hatch closes — capable of carrying the crew to safety in milliseconds, whether on the pad or during ascent. Learn how the LAS ensures every mission begins with confidence.
At our campus in Denver, Colorado, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is put through its most demanding rehearsals inside the Integrated Test Lab, a full-scale, high-fidelity twin of the flight vehicle. Here, engineers and astronauts test every system, line of code and contingency, ensuring Orion is fully proven and mission-ready before carrying humans back to the Moon on Artemis II and beyond.
As NASA prepares for an early 2026 launch, teams have completed key integration and communications testing of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System for Artemis II—the first crewed mission of the Artemis campaign.
A fourth-generation Kennedy Space Center veteran, Diamond St. John is carrying her family’s legacy from Apollo into the Artemis era. As an engineer on the Orion program, she leads production of the spacecraft’s heat shield helping ensure crews return safely as humanity prepares to land on the Moon again and venture onward to Mars.
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