The Orion vehicle that will bring astronauts around the Moon and back for the first time in over 50 years was recently tested in a refurbished altitude chamber used during the Apollo era.

The Orion stack, made of the crew module, the second European Service Module and adapters, was lifted out of an altitude chamber on 27 April at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA.

Over the past weeks, the vehicle has undergone electromagnetic tests in the refurbished altitude chamber, which was used over half a century ago to test the environmental and life support systems of the lunar and command modules of the Apollo missions. The testing of Orion for Artemis II marks the first time since Apollo that a spacecraft designed for human space exploration has entered the chamber for testing.

The journey continues for the Orion vehicle as it will be tested up to its expected launch in 2025. The spacecraft will return to the same altitude chamber this summer for vacuum testing and later the Orion stack for Artemis II will receive its final component: its four, seven-metre-long solar arrays that the European Service Module will use to power the vehicle and its crew of four towards the Moon and back.