NASA is about to send people to the moon — in a spacecraft not everyone thinks is safe to fly

When four astronauts begin a historic trip around the moon as soon as February 6, they’ll climb aboard NASA’s 16.5-foot-wide Orion spacecraft with the understanding that it has a known flaw — one that has some experts urging the space agency not to fly the mission with humans on board. But NASA remains confident it has a handle on the problem and the vehicle can bring the crew home safely.

The issue relates to a special coating applied to the bottom part of the spacecraft, called the heat shield. It’s a crucial piece of hardware designed to protect the astronauts from extreme temperatures as they’re descending back to Earth during the final stretch of their moon-bound mission called Artemis II.

This vital part of the Orion spacecraft is nearly identical to the heat shield flown on Artemis I, an uncrewed 2022 test flight. That prior mission’s Orion vehicle returned from space with a heat shield pockmarked by unexpected damage — prompting NASA to investigate the issue.

Read more: [https://cnn.it/49TgPpc](https://cnn.it/49TgPpc)

When has it ever been safe to strap yourself to a metal cylinder filled with one of the most volatile substances we know? We can try and make it as safe as we can, but it will never be **safe**.

Because they thought Apollo 11 was so safe.

Saying this isn’t safe to fly is disingenuous and alarmist. We at NASA take safety first in EVERY decision. The world experts have examined this and determined it within tolerance. The astronauts, again experts in their field, have determined that the level of risk of a heat shield failure is so low that they are literally going to put their lives on it.

There will always be a contrarian. Its important in this industry to examine every side of a problem. NASA has become so risk-adverse that some people will always say that any amount of risk is too high for human flight. Those aren’t the people who have to accept the risk of failure. The astronauts and the administrator are the only ones who can… And they have. What information do you have that you think this group doesn’t?

All space rockets are just ballistic missiles that don’t come back down straight away. It’s never been exactly the easiest of jobs, there is a reason the original astronauts on both sides of the iron curtain were all test pilots.