NASA’s Orion spacecraft, a critical part of the agency’s Artemis I mission, has completed its three-month test campaign at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, where it was subjected to the extreme temperatures and electromagnetic environment it will experience in its upcoming test mission to the Moon.

Media are invited to two events at Plum Brook Station prior to the spacecraft’s return to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will begin preparations for launch:

• On Monday, March 9, from 10 to 11 a.m. EDT, media will have the opportunity to view the Orion spacecraft, consisting of its crew and service modules, inside the Space Environments Complex before it is prepared for departure. This opportunity is for photographs and video of the spacecraft only.

• On Saturday, March 14, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT, NASA will celebrate the completion of testing and departure of the spacecraft from Plum Brook Station. During this event, the spacecraft will be covered in its transportation fixture. The following officials will discuss NASA’s Artemis program, the importance of the completed tests, and the next steps for Orion:

                        – Members of the Ohio congressional delegation

                        – Jim Morhard, NASA deputy administrator

                        – Marla Pérez-Davis, NASA’s Glenn Research Center director

                        – Mark Kirasich, Orion program manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center

                        – Sunita Williams, astronaut, Johnson

Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test around the Moon, the first in a series of progressively more complex missions that ultimately will land the first woman and next man on the lunar South Pole by 2024. NASA will then use what it learns on the Moon to prepare to send astronauts to Mars.

NASA release