The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft developed by NASA and prime contractor Lockheed Martin. It is the only spacecraft currently capable of carrying humans on deep space missions beyond low Earth orbit and returning them safely at high speed. The concept originated in the early 2000s as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) for NASA's Constellation program, which was canceled in 2010. The program was redesigned and received renewed focus in 2017 as the crew vehicle for the Artemis Program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually prepare for missions to Mars.
The spacecraft consists of two main parts: the Crew Module (CM), built by Lockheed Martin, which carries up to four astronauts and is the only part that returns to Earth. The second part is the European Service Module (ESM), provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space, which acts as the powerhouse. The ESM provides propulsion via 33 engines, electrical power from solar arrays, and life support systems including water and oxygen for the crew. A critical safety mechanism is the Launch Abort System (LAS), which can activate within milliseconds to pull the crew module away from the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in an emergency during launch or ascent.
The Orion spacecraft is central to the Artemis Program, which is named after the sister of Apollo. The uncrewed Artemis I mission successfully tested the spacecraft in 2022, traveling further than any human-rated spacecraft before. The first crewed mission, Artemis II, launched on April 1, 2026, carrying four astronauts on a lunar flyby. A recent change involved the heat shield design, which was modified after the Artemis I mission experienced more damage than expected during re-entry. The Orion Crew Survival System Suit (OCSSS) was also recently introduced, designed for launch, entry, and emergency survival for up to six days.