The charred hull of Artemis 2's Orion | Space photo of the day for May 8, 2026

NASA's Artemis 2 Orion capsule sits at the Kennedy Space Center, charred from its return journey through Earth's atmosphere. (Image credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky) NASA's Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft rests after its flight around the moon, charred from the return to Earth. The Artemis 2 mission launched four astronauts on a journey around the moon aboard an Orion capsule that its crew named "Integrity." Looking at the capsule now, you can see what it went through to get home. What is it? On April 1, NASA launched four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth. This mission, called Artemis 2, was the first time humans have traveled to the moon in over 50 years, since NASA's final Apollo mission in 1972. On their trip home, the crew — NASA astronauts commander Reid Wiseman, mission pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — hurtled back through Earth's atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. This return trip was no picnic. During its descent, temperatures around the capsule reached up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). And while the capsule's heat shield kept the astronauts inside safe, this picture clearly shows the extreme environment that the craft had to ensure. In the photo, the capsule sits , burned by its return journey, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Multi-Payload Processing Facility in Florida. …