Reflecting on The Artemis II Mission at PBI Performance Products

Just last month, on April 10th 2026, the ESA and NASA’s Artemis II crew returned to Earth, with the Orion spacecraft splashing safely down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. It’s another mark of success for NASA, continuing their long-standing success in space exploration. And one of the most exciting things about the entire mission? The contribution of PBI!

Yes, that’s right. At PBI Performance Products, we participated in space exploration once again, after doing so 3 years ago for the first Artemis mission. We’ve put together this article to give some insight into what the goal of the Artemis II launch was and how PBI played such a crucial role in its success. 

What was the Artemis II mission? 

Artemis II was a crewed flyby of the Moon in the Orion spacecraft, and indeed the first crewed flight past low Earth orbit in over 50 years, since Apollo 17 in 1972. Remarkably, even with the high level of technical prowess and achievement on display, Artemis II is only really a test flight at this point, devised to prepare for Artemis IV. 

Artemis IV is planned to be the third crewed mission to the moon, and the first landing since the aforementioned Apollo 17 mission. The mission just passed was a successful opportunity to test and validate the Orion’s life-support systems, ground control integrations, hardware and deep space operational procedures. 

Artemis II details

The crew of the Artemis II included: 

• Reid Wiseman

• Victor Glover

• Christina Koch 

• Jeremy Hansen

The Orion launched on the 1st of April 2026, with the mission taking 9 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes and 15 seconds and travelling over 700,000 miles. In flying around the moon, the crew achieved the greatest human distance from Earth as of now, a gobsmacking 252,756 miles from Earth. 

With the shuttle making it back to earth safely and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on the 10th of April, the mission can be considered an unequivocal success. 

How PBI contributed to the Artemis II mission

PBI Performance Products are immensely proud that we contributed to this mission in the same way we did for the first Artemis voyage. PBI fiber was chosen for the ablative layer in the rocket boosters because of its unmatchable capacity to withstand intense temperatures. 

As the ablative layer, the PBI fiber absorbed the extreme thermal energy from the boosters, protecting the underlying structural metal of the craft. PBI was the right option to melt away safely, ensuring the craft was guarded. In high-pressure conditions where mistakes aren’t an option, PBI is the only choice. 

Learn more about PBI

Artemis II was a resounding success, and we can’t wait to see how PBI plays a part in III and IV going forward. 

We’re intensely proud that the same material trusted to support these space expeditions is also used in firefighting PPE and a wide variety of different industrial applications. This is just another instance of this industry-altering molecule showcasing just how powerful it is. 

If you want to learn more about PBI and what it’s capable of, visit our website today.