Orion window panel complete for front-row view on Artemis Moon mission: NASA

For astronauts to get a sight of the moon when they head there in 2024, US space agency NASA has got hold of a newly completed window panel that will be fixed on the Artemis III Orion crew module.

A cone panel with openings for windows which will provide that spectacular view was designed by Orion’s lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, and manufactured by California-based AMRO Fabricating Corp. The completed panel is on its way to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, Louisiana, where engineers will weld it with other panels as part of Orion’s pressure vessel.

“It’s truly exciting to have the first piece of the Artemis III Orion spacecraft completed at AMRO that will enable American astronauts to build a sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” said Acting Orion Program Manager Howard Hu.

In addition to machining elements for Orion’s crew module, AMRO manufactures the panels for the core stage, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion stage adapter for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send Orion to the Moon during Artemis missions.

Orion, SLS, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) programs are foundational elements of the Artemis program, beginning with Artemis I, the first integrated flight test of Orion and SLS next year. Artemis II will follow with the system’s first crewed mission, taking humans farther into space than ever before.

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Artemis 3

Artemis 3 is the third planned flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft to be launched on the Space Launch System. Scheduled for launch in October 2024, Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Human exploration of the Moon under the Artemis program offers a unique opportunity to test, refine, and perfect many of the technologies and complex operations that will be needed to land humans on Mars, perform their work on the surface and safely return them to Earth, the agency has said.

Ahead of the human launch, NASA will send a suite of science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface through commercial Moon deliveries beginning in 2021. The agency will fly two missions around the Moon to test its deep space exploration systems. 

NASA is working toward launching Artemis I, an uncrewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft together, followed by the Artemis II mission, the first SLS and Orion test flight with a crew. NASA will land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 on the Artemis III mission and about once a year thereafter.

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