Revision History

On April 10, 2026, the four-person Artemis II crew will plunge into Earth's atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph — the fastest any humans have ever traveled during reentry — testing a heat shield design that cracked and shed material during the uncrewed Artemis I mission. NASA chose to modify the reentry trajectory rather than replace the shield, a decision praised by some engineers and condemned by critics who draw parallels to the institutional failures behind the Challenger and Columbia disasters.