My recollection is that the center section of the shuttle launch vehicle was also orange. I can’t remember if they left it unpainted as a weight or cost savings.

I have only been paying attention to the Artemis program slightly, but I’m disheartened to hear (I believe) that the retry vehicle will again be dependent upon heat-deflecting tiles. This was a major problem with the shuttle design, one which ultimately led indirectly to the loss of Columbia some twenty years ago. I was hopeful that our tech had somehow moved beyond their use.

That said, I do recall reading in Aviation Week & Space Technology back in the late-1970s that NASA’s shuttle risk analysis predicted one total-loss in the first twenty-five. launches (which proved accurate with the Challenger loss).