The damage to the Orion capsule from the Artemis I mission is already top of mind for NASA as it works to make the Artemis II mission safe for humans. But a new agency report has revealed the extent of the problem, including scores of cracks in Orion's critical heat shield.

The report from NASA's Office of Inspector General outlined six issues that need NASA's attention, with the heat shield damage found after the uncrewed Artemis I test mission in late 2022 at the top of the list.

NASA found more than 100 places on the heat shield where what's known as the char layer ended up "cracking and breaking off the spacecraft in fragments that created a trail of debris rather than melting away as designed," the report reads. Images released for the first time in the report showed the extent of the damage.

It notes that the reentry speeds coming in from a lunar trajectory reach nearly 25,000 mph, which is about 40% faster than what astronauts face when returning from low-Earth orbit in SpaceX's Crew Dragon.