NASA's Readiness for the Artemis II Crewed Mission to Lunar Orbit

Date Issued

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Submitting OIG

National Aeronautics and Space Administration OIG

Other Participating OIGs

National Aeronautics and Space Administration OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Report Number

IG-24-011

Report Description

With the Artemis campaign, NASA intends to return humans to the Moon and build a sustainable lunar presence as a foundation for human exploration of Mars. Given the high stakes of the first crewed flight, the Agency is working to identify and mitigate any risks and challenges to ensure the safe return of the Artemis II crew and safeguard NASA’s significant investment in Artemis vehicles and systems.

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Open Recommendations

This report has 6 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1	No	$0	$0
Ensure the root cause of Orion heat shield char liberation is well understood prior to launch of the Artemis II mission.
2	No	$0	$0
Conduct analysis of Orion separation bolts using updated models that account for char loss, design modifications, and operational changes to Orion prior to launch of the Artemis II mission.
3	No	$0	$0
Require EGS conduct additional verification and validation for launch imagery equipment prior to launch attempts should launch conditions change.
4	No	$0	$0
Reexamine procedures to better ensure recovery of Orion jettisoned hardware for the Artemis II mission.
5	No	$0	$0
Develop a corrective action plan to mitigate or prevent the recurrence of uninterpretable Orion telemetry data for the Artemis II mission.
6	No	$0	$0
Establish a course of action and timeline for individual Artemis system design changes before beginning integrated system assembly stacking operations.