Weather Tidbits: How The Orion Spacecraft Survives Earth’s Atmosphere

We’ll be discussing how astronauts the Orion spacecraft safely enters Earth’s atmosphere in this edition of weather tidbits. When space objects like meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere, it burns up because of the air compression at high speeds, which causes rapid heating. When the Orion spacecraft enters Earth’s atmosphere, the outside temperature can reach as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the temperature inside the spacecraft can remain at a safe 70 degrees. The reason why the interior remains safe is that the aircraft is covered in a material known as avocat, which is a protective heat shield that absorbs and sheds heat. So, while the Orion spacecraft’s outer layers get charged up and burn away as the temperature rises, the inside environment remains safe at a comfortable temperature. The astronauts will parachute out of the spacecraft as it falls into the ocean.