Orion is NASA’s crew spacecraft, built to carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit and return them safely to Earth. In the Artemis program, it serves as the human-rated capsule that connects launch, deep-space travel, reentry, and recovery. Because it is a crew vehicle, Orion is designed around strict safety, redundancy, and mission assurance requirements.
In cyber security, Orion matters as an example of a high-consequence system where digital integrity is mission-critical. Flight software, telemetry, command links, and ground control systems must all be trusted, because a corrupted command or spoofed data stream can affect spacecraft behavior or operator decisions. Attackers usually target the broader support environment rather than the capsule itself: mission networks, supplier systems, authentication paths, or communication links. Defenders focus on segmentation, signed updates, access control, monitoring, and validation of telemetry and commands.