Sponsored images from 
View allAll Photos Tagged SpaceLaunchSystem
The future of NASA space flight, the Space Launch System, on the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B
One of the largest composite cryotanks ever built recently completed a battery of tests at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The tank was lowered into a structural test stand where it was tested with cryogenic hydrogen and structural loads were applied to simulate stresses the tank would experience during launch. Next-generation technologies including composite systems have the potential to make rockets, including NASA’s Space Launch System -- a deep space rocket being developed at Marshall -- more capable and affordable.
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/press/2014/august/nasa-completes-successful-...
Image credit: NASA/MSFC/David Olive
More about SLS:
More SLS graphics and concepts:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr album
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Monday morning view of the #SpaceLaunchSystem and Orion spacecraft. The #artemis mission launch window was scheduled from 8:33am to 10:33am, but the launch was called off because of issues with one of the rocket engines.
The next possible launch attempt is Friday, September 2.
#WeAreGoing
Editor's note: Happy Thursday! There's also a great 46-second video of this test firing located here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOFxrzOR7q4.
Two-percent scale models of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters and core stage RS-25 engines, which will power the vehicle to deep space missions, have been designed and built ahead of base heating testing scheduled this summer. The current model RS-25 engine clocking configuration, different from the SLS configuration, is used to adequately visualize plumes during the Pathfinder Test Program. The work was a collaborative effort between Marshall Center engineers and Calspan-University of Buffalo Research Center Inc. in Buffalo, N.Y.
In this image, the 2-percent scale models of the SLS boosters and core stage engines are ignited for a 100 millisecond, hot-fire test. The test was used to validate the design of the models.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/s...
Read full information about test:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls-mini-rocket-mode...
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Construction workers stage parts and equipment nearby Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 22, 2019. The launch pad has undergone upgrades and modifications to accommodate NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 and subsequent missions. Upgrades include new heat-resistant bricks on the walls of the flame trench and installation of a new flame deflector. All of the upgrades have been managed by Exploration Ground Systems. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA's Pegasus Barge, which has a storied history of supporting the Space Shuttle Program, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B turn basin wharf, carrying its first load in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived Friday, Sept. 27, ferrying the 212-foot-long Space Launch System (SLS) core stage pathfinder. Weighing in at 228,000 pounds, the pathfinder is a full-scale mockup of the rocket's core stage. The pathfinder will be utilized by the Exploration Ground Systems Program and their contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, utilizing important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy for approximately one month before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Jacobs TOSC workers assist as a cover, called the spider, is moved closer to be attached to the top of the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage pathfinder on Oct. 4, 2019. With the spider secured in place, a crane will be attached to it to lift the pathfinder into the vertical position. The 212-foot-long core stage pathfinder arrived on NASA's Pegasus Barge at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Sept. 27, 2019. The Pegasus Barge made its first delivery to Kennedy in support of the agency's Artemis missions. The upgraded 310-foot-long barge arrived, ferrying the SLS core stage pathfinder, a full-scale mock-up of the rocket's core stage. It will be used by Exploration Ground Systems and its contractor, Jacobs, to practice offloading, moving and stacking maneuvers, using important ground support equipment to train employees and certify all the equipment works properly. The pathfinder will stay at Kennedy for approximately one month before trekking back to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Space Launch System (SLS) Stages Manager Julie Bassler, right, celebrates the arrival of the SLS core stage by symbolically âpassing the batonâ to Exploration Ground Systemsâ (EGS) Senior Vehicle Operations Manager Cliff Lanham on April 28, 2021, at NASAâs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Journeying from the agencyâs Stennis Space Center in Mississippi aboard the Pegasus barge, the core stage arrived at the Florida spaceport on April 27 to be processed for flight by EGS. It is the final piece of Artemis hardware to arrive at Kennedy and will be offloaded and moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepared for integration atop the mobile launcher with the completed stack of solid rocket boosters ahead of the Artemis I launch. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Sam Lott
The Orion spacecraft with integrated European Service Module sit atop the Space Launch System, imaged at sunrise at historic Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA on 27 August.
The Flight Readiness Review has deemed the trio GO for launch, marking the dawn of a new era in space exploration.
The first in a series of missions that will return humans to the Moon, including taking the first European, Artemis I is scheduled for launch no earlier than Monday 29 August, at 14:33 CEST.
This mission will put NASA’s Orion spacecraft and ESA’s European Service Module to the test during a journey beyond the Moon and back. No crew will be on board Orion this time, and the spacecraft will be controlled by teams on Earth.
The crew module, however, won’t be empty. Two mannequins, named Helga and Zohar, will occupy the passenger seats. Their female-shaped plastic bodies are filled with over 5600 sensors each to measure the radiation load during their trip around the Moon. The specially trained woolly astronaut, Shaun the Sheep, has also been assigned a seat.
The spacecraft will enter lunar orbit using the Moon’s gravity to gain speed and propel itself almost half a million km from Earth – farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever travelled.
The second Artemis mission will see four astronauts travel around the Moon on a flyby voyage around our natural satellite.
Mission duration depends on the launch date and even time. It will last between 20 to 40 days, depending on how many orbits of the Moon mission designers decide to make.
This flexibility in mission length is necessary to allow the mission to end as intended with a splashdown during daylight hours in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, USA.
Two more dates are available if a launch on 29 August is not possible. The Artemis Moon mission can also be launched on 2 September and 5 September. Check all the possible launch options on ESA’s Orion blog.
Orion is the only spacecraft capable of human spaceflight outside Earth orbit and high-speed reentry from the vicinity of the Moon. More than just a crew module, Orion includes the European Service Module (ESM), the powerhouse that fuels and propels Orion.
ESM provides for all astronauts’ basic needs, such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, temperature control, power and propulsion. Much like a train engine pulls passenger carriages and supplies power, the European Service Module will take the Orion capsule to its destination and back.
Watch launch coverage on ESA Web TV starting at 12:30 CEST here. Follow @esaspaceflight for updates and live Twitter coverage.
Credits: ESA-A. Conigli
DSC_0310proc
One of the aft booster segments for the Space Launch System is moved out of the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASAâs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 19, 2020, for its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams will stack the twin five-segment boosters on the mobile launcher inside the VAB over a number of weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the mobile launcher, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. The SLS is managed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
From left to right, NASA astronaut candidates Anil Menon, Deniz Burnham, and Marcos Berrios, and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman pose for a photograph in front of NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher on the pad at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 2, 2022. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Steven Seipel
A model SLS rocket outside the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. The model was used to test transporting on the NASA barge.
With a sunrise serving as the backdrop, Exploration Ground Systems’ mobile launcher makes its last solo trek to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida on June 27, 2019. It will remain there for the summer, undergoing final testing and checkouts. The mobile launcher departed from the Vehicle Assembly Building at midnight on June 27 for the 10-hour journey to the pad. Its next roll to the pad will be with the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in preparation for the launch of Artemis 1. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
A completed dome on a holding fixture at the Plug Weld Tool (PWT). The PWT is a friction-stir-weld tool used to complete circumferential friction stir welds in the production of dome assemblies for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) core stage cryogenic tanks.
Image credit: NASA/MAF
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/sls/multimedia/gallery/core-stage-pwt.html
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr album
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Doug Hurley, senior director of business development, Northrop Grumman, participates in a prelaunch media briefing on the role of industry in advancing human exploration on Aug. 26, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the agency prepares for launch of Artemis I scheduled for Aug. 29, at 8:33 a.m. EDT from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A press conference is held on Aug. 29, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after waving-off of the launch of the agency’s Artemis I mission. Participants from left, are NASA Press Secretary Jackie McGuiness; Bill Nelson, NASA administrator; Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, NASA Headquarters; and Jim Free, associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA astronauts and astronaut candidates pose for a photograph in front of NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher on the pad at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 2, 2022. The astronauts are, from left to right: Victor Glover, NASA astronaut; Marcos Berrios, NASA astronaut candidate; Anne McClain, NASA astronaut; Anil Menon and Deniz Burnham, NASA astronaut candidates; and Zena Cardman, NASA astronaut. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Steven Seipel
The core stage for NASA's first Artemis mission to the Moon moved to the agency’s Pegasus barge on Jan. 8, 2020. The 212-foot Space Launch System rocket stage, built by NASA and lead contractor Boeing at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, rolled the onto Pegasus, which shipped it to NASA's Stennis Space Center on Jan. 12. Here, it will undergo a comprehensive series of engineering tests called the Green Run. After Green Run is complete, the core stage will be sent to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where it will join with SLS's giant boosters and the Orion spacecraft to launch into space on Artemis I.
Image credit: Danny Nowlin
Editor's note: Hello, Flickr friends! There are very few videos in our stream, but this one is definitely worth a look-see. Talk about smoke-n-fire...wow...
A 5-percent scale model, including solid rocket motors, of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is ignited to test how low- and high-frequency sound waves will affect the rocket on the launch pad. The data collected from the tests will be used to help direct and verify the design of the rocket's sound suppression system.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/sls/multimedia/gallery/smat-test-sls.html
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr album
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
A 900-pound steel beam is positioned in place to "top out" Test Stand 4697, which is under construction to test the Space Launch System liquid oxygen tank at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. SLS will be the world's most powerful rocket and carry astronauts in NASA's Orion spacecraft on deep-space missions, including the journey to Mars. "Topping out" is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam is placed on top of a structure during its construction. The 85-foot-tall test stand will use hydraulic cylinders to subject the liquid oxygen tank and hardware of the massive SLS core stage to the same loads and stresses it will endure during a launch. The tests also will verify the models already in place that predict the amount of loads the core stage can withstand during launch and ascent. (NASA/Marshall/Emmett Given)
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
#JourneyToMars #NASAMarshall #SLS
_______________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
LS
Workers prepare to lift one of the first steel pieces for the twin towers of a 215-foot-tall structural test stand for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), the world's most powerful rocket for human space exploration. The first steel was welded into place Aug. 31, 2015, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. When completed, hydraulic cylinders at Test Stand 4693 will push and pull the liquid hydrogen tank of the SLS’s massive core stage to subject the tank and hardware to the same loads and stresses they will endure during launch. Test Stand 4693 is being built in Marshall's West Test Area on the foundation of the stand where the Apollo Saturn V F-1 engine was tested during the 1960s. (Photo courtesy Brasfield & Gorrie)
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Engineers at the Marshall Center test the 130-metric-ton heavy-lift configuration of the Space Launch System rocket in the Trisonic Wind Tunnel in Bldg. 4732.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/w...
More about the wind tunnel testing:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls_wind_tunnel.html
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
From left, Wayne Arrington and Richard Gilbert, both Boeing employees supporting the Stages Office; and Lisa Coe, an engineer in the Stages Office, perform a demonstration of a SLS fly-out from the System Integration Test Facility control room. This demonstration goes from prelaunch to all the stages of the vehicle separation events, including booster separation, engine cut off and Orion spacecraft separation.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/s...
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls-avionics.html
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, center, visits with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, at right, and astronaut candidate Andre Douglas, during launch countdown activities for NASA's Artemis I mission on Aug. 29, 2022, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was waved off for the day. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion's heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Edited image. Canon 5DM4 with Sigma ART 14mm f/1.8 at f/16 305s ISO 200. Post-processing in LR Classic.
The future of NASA space flight, the Space Launch System, on the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B
Sunday morning views of NASA’s Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft.
Teams are progressing toward a 1:04am (ET) Wednesday launch.
In two of the photos, you can see some people at the base of the rocket for scale, as post-hurricane work on the rocket appears to be progressing.
Technicians and engineers with Exploration Ground Systems at the NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently tested the Crew Access Arm (CAA) that was added on the mobile launcher being prepared to support the agency’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket. The crucial test confirmed the functionality and integrity of the CAA. The CAA is designed to rotate from its retracted position and line up with Orion's crew hatch. The arm will provide entry and emergency egress for astronauts and technicians into and out of the Orion spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The gas generator is the part of the engine mounted just above the red box in this image. Engineers removed it from a Saturn
V F-1 engine and are testing it in Test Stand 116, shown here, in the East Area of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/f...
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use
printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or
promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on
usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Moon rocket, meet the International Space Station: NASA put on quite the show tonight, as the ISS flew overhead while NASA's SLS + Artemis1 was rolling to LC-39B.
This was the view from the Press Site, seen in a 12-frame composite (with the first frame used for the background).
Todd May, acting director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, talks about progress on Test Stand 4693 and NASA's Journey to Mars during a media conference on Dec. 14, 2015 at Marshall, as astronaut Butch Wilmore and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right, look on.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given
For more information on the Space Launch System, visit: www.nasa.gov/sls
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
#JourneyToMars #NASAMarshall #SLS
_______________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
LS
ATK moves a segment of the solid rocket booster for assembly at the company's facility in Promontory, Utah.
Image credit: ATK
More about the solid rocket booster assembly:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls_qualification.html
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/q...
More about SLS:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s)
of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or
endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
Ground is cleared at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as building begins in July 2014 on Test Stand 4697 -- one of two structural test stands under construction at Marshall that are critical to development of the Space Launch System. SLS will be the world's most powerful rocket for human space exploration, able to carry astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on deep-space missions, including the journey to Mars.
The 85-foot-tall Test Stand 4697 will use hydraulic cylinders to subject the liquid oxygen tank and hardware of the massive SLS core stage to the same loads and stresses it will endure during a launch. Construction on the test stand is scheduled for completion in 2016 by prime contractor Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham, Alabama, and several of its subcontractors. (Photo courtesy Brasfield & Gorrie)
For more information on the Space Launch System, visit: www.nasa.gov/sls
More SLS Photos:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/S...
Space Launch System Flickr photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157627559536895/
#JourneyToMars #NASAMarshall #SLS
_______________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...
LS
A crane and rigging lines are used to install the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage Umbilical (ICPSU) high up on the mobile launcher (ML) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The last of the large umbilicals to be installed, the ICPSU will provide super-cooled hydrogen and liquid oxygen to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's interim cryogenic propulsion stage, or upper stage, at T-0 for Exploration Mission-1. The umbilical is located at about the 240-foot-level of the mobile launcher and will supply fuel, oxidizer, gaseous helium, hazardous gas leak detection, electrical commodities and environment control systems to the upper stage of the SLS rocket during launch. Exploration Ground Systems is overseeing installation of the umbilicals on the ML. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
NASA’s Space Launch System standing tall at LC-39B, scheduled to send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon Monday, August 29. The 2-hour launch window for the #Artemis I mission opens at 8:33am (EDT)
#WeAreGoing
Seen to the right of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane positions the Orion crew access arm (CAA) so it can be attached to the mobile launcher (ML). The arm will be installed at about the 274-foot level on the ML tower. NASA's Exploration Ground Systems organization has been overseeing installation of umbilicals and other launch accessories on the 380-foot-tall ML in preparation for stacking the first launch of the Space launch System (SLS), rocket with an Orion spacecraft. The CAA is designed to rotate from its retracted position and line up with Orion's crew hatch providing entry for astronauts and technicians.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
The Orion spacecraft with integrated European Service Module sit atop the Space Launch System, imaged at sunrise at historic Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA on 27 August.
The Flight Readiness Review has deemed the trio GO for launch, marking the dawn of a new era in space exploration.
The first in a series of missions that will return humans to the Moon, including taking the first European, Artemis I is scheduled for launch no earlier than Monday 29 August, at 14:33 CEST.
This mission will put NASA’s Orion spacecraft and ESA’s European Service Module to the test during a journey beyond the Moon and back. No crew will be on board Orion this time, and the spacecraft will be controlled by teams on Earth.
The crew module, however, won’t be empty. Two mannequins, named Helga and Zohar, will occupy the passenger seats. Their female-shaped plastic bodies are filled with over 5600 sensors each to measure the radiation load during their trip around the Moon. The specially trained woolly astronaut, Shaun the Sheep, has also been assigned a seat.
The spacecraft will enter lunar orbit using the Moon’s gravity to gain speed and propel itself almost half a million km from Earth – farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever travelled.
The second Artemis mission will see four astronauts travel around the Moon on a flyby voyage around our natural satellite.
Mission duration depends on the launch date and even time. It will last between 20 to 40 days, depending on how many orbits of the Moon mission designers decide to make.
This flexibility in mission length is necessary to allow the mission to end as intended with a splashdown during daylight hours in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, USA.
Two more dates are available if a launch on 29 August is not possible. The Artemis Moon mission can also be launched on 2 September and 5 September. Check all the possible launch options on ESA’s Orion blog.
Orion is the only spacecraft capable of human spaceflight outside Earth orbit and high-speed reentry from the vicinity of the Moon. More than just a crew module, Orion includes the European Service Module (ESM), the powerhouse that fuels and propels Orion.
ESM provides for all astronauts’ basic needs, such as water, oxygen, nitrogen, temperature control, power and propulsion. Much like a train engine pulls passenger carriages and supplies power, the European Service Module will take the Orion capsule to its destination and back.
Watch launch coverage on ESA Web TV starting at 12:30 CEST here. Follow @esaspaceflight for updates and live Twitter coverage.
Credits: ESA-A. Conigli
DSC_0272
State of NASA event at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on Monday, Feb. 2
On Monday, Feb. 2 NASA Marshall invited social media followers to an in-person State of NASA event. The event included a tour of the center which showcased highlights of the work Marshall is doing on the Space Launch System, NASA’s new heavy lift rocket. Another tour segment included the development and maintenance on the advanced life support systems on the International Space Station, as well as the life support systems that could be used on future exploration missions to Mars and other deep space destinations.
Image credit: Emmett Given (NASA/MSFC)
After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft has been opened to begin offloading the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA), the second flight-hardware section of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to arrive at Kennedy. The OSA will connect the Orion spacecraft to the upper part of the SLS, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). Both the OSA and ICPS are being stored for processing in the center's Space Station Processing Facility in preparation for Exploration Mission-1, the first uncrewed, integrated launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The 2017 class of astronaut candidates get a close-up view of the mobile launcher during a familiarization tour at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The candidates toured center facilities, including the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay; the Launch Control Center, Launch Pad 39B, and the Vehicle Assembly Building. They also toured Boeing's Commercial Crew and Cargo Facility, United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and SpaceX's Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy. The candidates will spend about two years getting to know the space station systems and learning how to spacewalk, speak Russian, control the International Space Station's robotic arm and fly T-38s, before they're eligible to be assigned to a mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Media and NASA Social participants take a group photo in front of the test stand B-2. NASA is nearing completion
on two major structural
restoration construction
packages for the B-2 Test Stand at
the agency’s Stennis Space Center
near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, marking
critical milestones for testing the
core stage of the new Space Launch
System (SLS).
The interior of the Space Launch System fuel tank, exterior is the previous photo.
NASA Core Stage Infographic: www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/infograph...
Space Launch System: www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
All work platforms are retracted from around NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in preparation for rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis II flight test will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth no later than no later than April 2026. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA image use policy.
Monday morning view of the #SpaceLaunchSystem and Orion spacecraft. The #artemis mission launch window was scheduled from 8:33am to 10:33am, but the launch was called off because of issues with one of the rocket engines.
The next possible launch attempt is Friday, September 2.
#WeAreGoing
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane positions the Orion crew access arm (CAA) so it can be attached to the mobile launcher (ML). The arm will be installed at about the 274-foot level on the ML tower. NASA's Exploration Ground Systems organization has been overseeing installation of umbilicals and other launch accessories on the 380-foot-tall ML in preparation for stacking the first launch of the Space launch System (SLS), rocket with an Orion spacecraft. The CAA is designed to rotate from its retracted position and line up with Orion's crew hatch providing entry for astronauts and technicians.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
An expanded view of an artist rendering of the 70 metric ton configuration of NASA's Space Launch System, managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. A version of the integration adapter rings, highlighted above, will be used on Exploration Flight Test-1 in 2014 and the first long-duration test flight of the Space Launch System in 2017.
Credit: NASA/MSFC
Original image:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/e...
More about SLS development:
There's a Flickr photoset about NASA's Space Launch System, if you'd like to know more:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157627559536895/
_____________________________________________
These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use
printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or
promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage
rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...