Wool was the obvious choice, because of its ability to shield against heat and cold, and because of its mild water and flame resistance. Rubber slickers were sometimes worn over the wool uniforms.

The heat shield is designed to be ablative, meaning it will be worn down somewhat during re-entry, but the charring of the material was worse than expected and a report released earlier this year ...

The inspector general writes that the Artemis 1 test flight of the Orion spacecraft "revealed anomalies with the Orion heat shield ... the heat of reentry — had worn away "differently than ...