View allAll Photos Tagged SpaceLaunchSystem
NASA engineer Guy Naylor poses for a photograph in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all. Photo credit: NASA/Adeline Morgan
NASA image use policy.
L-R: William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for human exploration and operations; Charlie Precourt, Vice President and General Manager, ATK Space Launch Division; John Elbon, Vice President and General Manager, Boeing Space Exploration; Julie Van Kleek, Vice President, space programs, Aerojet Rocketdyne; and Jim Crocker, Vice President and General Manager, civil space, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, participate in a panel discussion on deep space exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jay Westcott)
John Elbon, Vice President and General Manager, Boeing Space Exploration, gestures while speaking at a panel discussion on deep space exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jay Westcott)
William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for human exploration and operations, participates in a panel discussion on deep space exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jay Westcott)
William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for human exploration and operations, participates in a panel discussion on deep space exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jay Westcott)
Boeing is building the core stages for NASA’s next heavy-lift rocket, the 321-foot tall Space Launch System, at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
Work continues as Boeing builds the core stage for the Space Launch System, using massive friction stir weld tooling, such as this Vertical Weld Center, which stacks rocket segments, then welds them together.
LEARN MORE - www.boeing.com/space/space-launch-system/
Charlie Precourt, Vice President and General Manager, ATK Space Launch Division, gestures while speaking at a panel discussion on deep space exploration using the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at the Newseum in Washington on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jay Westcott)
A team of engineers, technicians and construction workers gather on the ground floor of High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to review procedures for the lift and install of the K-level work platform. The first half of the K-level work platforms for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) will be installed about 86 feet above the floor. The K work platforms will provide access to the SLS core stage and solid rocket boosters during processing and stacking operations on the mobile launcher. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to High Bay 3 to support processing of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. A total of 10 levels of new platforms, 20 platform halves altogether, will surround the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and provide access for testing and processing. Photo credit: NASA/Glen Benson
At NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Orion's newly completed pressure vessel for the Artemis III mission is lifted out of the welding tool. The pressure vessel is the primary structure for Orion's crew module, joined together using state-of-the-art welding by technicians from lead contractor Lockheed Martin.
Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker
Preparations are underway for Load Test #1 on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsive Stage Umbilical (ICPSU) arm for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) at Coastal Steel in Cocoa, Florida. The test will consist of applying six vertical loads and eight horizontal loads onto the truss in the retracted position to simulate the effects of a launch on the structure. A load test tower was designed and fabricated at Coastal Steel for the test. Engineers and technicians from NASA Kennedy Space Center and Coastal will apply the loads by hanging weights off the ICPSU structure. Vertical loads will be applied by hanging the weights directly, and horizontal loads will be applied by a rope that wraps over an adjacent pipe on the load test tower. The ICPSU is one of the umbilical arms that will be attached to the mobile launcher. The umbilical will be located at the about the 240-foot-level of the mobile launcher and will supply fuel, oxidizer, pneumatics, hazard gas leak detection, electrical commodities and environmental control systems to the interim cryogenic propulsive stage of the SLS rocket during launch. Photo credit: Daniel Casper
In this image:
During a tour of Aerojet Rocketdyne's Engine Assembly Facility, #NASASocial followers viewed RS-25 engines in storage.
More about the Vertical Assembly Center:
The largest spacecraft welding tool in the world, the Vertical Assembly Center officially is open for business at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 170-foot-tall, 78-foot-wide giant completes a world-class welding toolkit that will be used to build the core stage of America's next great rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall (61 meters) with a diameter of 27.6 feet (8.4 meters), will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines.
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-unveils-worlds-lar...
Image credit: NASA/SSC
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...
In this image:
Mike McDaniel, Aerojet Rocketdyne's General Manager briefs NASASocial participants during a tour of the Engine Assembly Facility.
More about the Vertical Assembly Center:
The largest spacecraft welding tool in the world, the Vertical Assembly Center officially is open for business at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 170-foot-tall, 78-foot-wide giant completes a world-class welding toolkit that will be used to build the core stage of America's next great rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall (61 meters) with a diameter of 27.6 feet (8.4 meters), will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines.
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-unveils-worlds-lar...
Image credit: NASA/SSC
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...
Progress on the new brick walls of the north side of the flame trench at Launch Pad 39B is seen in a view from the top of the pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Construction workers with J.P. Donovan of Rockledge, Florida, continue to install new heat-resistant bricks on the concrete walls. The Pad B flame trench is being refurbished to support the launch of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. The Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program at Kennedy is helping transform the space center into a multi-user spaceport and prepare for Exploration Mission 1, deep-space missions, and NASA's Journey to Mars. For more information about GSDO, visit: www.nasa.gov/groundsystems. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) is seen at the rollout event on March 17th, 2022. Photo: Brandon Moser
Lockheed Martin engineers at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, prepare elements of the Orion pressure vessel for welding.
Boeing engineer Tony Castilleja works on the CST-100 Starliner, which will provide NASA with transportation to and from the International Space Station.
WATCH Tony talk about what inspired him to become a rocket engineer - www.boeing.com/principles/education/students-families.pag...
A liquid oxygen tank confidence article for NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, completes final welding on the Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
A liquid oxygen tank confidence article for NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, completes final welding on the Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
_______________________________
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...
Lockheed Martin engineers at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, prepare elements of the Orion pressure vessel for welding.
A view from above inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shows the first half of the J-level work platforms for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted by crane for installation in High Bay 3. In view below are the two K-level work platforms that were previously installed. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to High Bay 3 to support processing of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. A total of 10 levels of new platforms, 20 platform halves altogether, will surround the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and provide access for testing and processing. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
The NASA Photo Social at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, Louisiana, gathered social media-savvy photographers together on August 16 and 17 to snap and share photos of the facility where NASA is building components for its deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, and crew vehicle, the Orion spacecraft. NASA Michoud is a world-class facility that is unique because it is one of the largest production buildings in the nation with a rich history of manufacturing excellence.
Image Credit: NASA/Steven Seipel
Lockheed Martin engineers at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, prepare elements of the Orion pressure vessel for welding.
In this image:
Gary Benton, RS-25 Project Manager briefs #NASASocial followers on activities for the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center.
More about the Vertical Assembly Center:
The largest spacecraft welding tool in the world, the Vertical Assembly Center officially is open for business at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 170-foot-tall, 78-foot-wide giant completes a world-class welding toolkit that will be used to build the core stage of America's next great rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall (61 meters) with a diameter of 27.6 feet (8.4 meters), will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines.
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/nasa-unveils-worlds-lar...
Image credit: NASA/SSC
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...
Lockheed Martin engineers at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, prepare elements of the Orion pressure vessel for welding.
An over-sized load, heavy transport trailer, carrying the first half of a new set of work platforms for the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), proceeds along the road toward the VAB west side parking area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform, one-half of the "G" platforms, was fabricated by Steel LLC of Scottdale, Georgia, and assembled by Sauer Co. in Oak Hill, Florida. A contract to modify High Bay 3 in the VAB was awarded to Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando, Florida in March 2014. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to the high bay to support processing of NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and other exploration vehicles. A total of 10 levels of new platforms, 20 platforms altogether, will surround the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and provide access for testing and processing in High Bay 3. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Members of the 2017 class of astronaut candidates are inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay during a familiarization tour of facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The candidates toured center facilities, including the Vehicle Assembly Building, Launch Control Center, Launch Pad 39B and the Space Station Processing Facility. 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. NASA/Kim Shiflett
Boeing Fabrication Specialist Kevin Pierre installs the tool holder in the Robotic Weld Tool at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tool will be used to build the Space Launch System rocket scheduled to launch in 2017.
Boeing provides this photo for the public to share. Media interested in high-resolution images for publication should email boeingmedia@boeing.com or visit boeing.mediaroom.com. Users may not manipulate or use this photo in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products, or promotions without licensed permission from Boeing. If you are interested in using Boeing imagery for commercial purposes, email imagelicensing@boeing.com or visit www.boeingimages.com.
Members of the Artemis 1 launch team, including personnel with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs Test and Operations Support Contract (TOSC), monitor activities during the first formal terminal countdown simulation inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 12, 2019.
This was the first in a series of simulations to help the team prepare for the launch of Artemis 1, the uncrewed first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A burst of flame from a J-2X Powerpack test-firing lights up the sky on Dec. 5, 2012 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. For the first time, the Space Launch System team invited Twitter followers behind-the-scenes for an all-day Tweet Chat, allowing the public to track test day activities and ask questions during this 1,286-second test.
The J-2X engine, built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., will power the upper stage of NASA's Space Launch System, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The new heavy-lift rocket system will launch the Orion spacecraft and enable humans to explore new destinations beyond low Earth orbit.
Image credit: NASA/SSC
View original image/caption:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/j2x/ppt_dec5_1.html
More about the J-2X Engine Development:
There's a Flickr photoset about the J-2X egnine development, if you'd like to know more: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157625345364038/
_____________________________________________
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...
_____________________________________________
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...
At NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an S-band antenna is tested after begin positioned on its support pedestal. The antenna will provide a crucial tracking capability following liftoff of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The S-band portion of the microwave spectrum combines command, voice and television signals though a single antenna.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
At NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Orion's newly completed pressure vessel for the Artemis III mission is lifted out of the welding tool. The pressure vessel is the primary structure for Orion's crew module, joined together using state-of-the-art welding by technicians from lead contractor Lockheed Martin.
Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker
Members of the Artemis 1 launch team, including personnel with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs Test and Operations Contract (TOSC), monitor activities during the first formal terminal countdown simulation inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 12, 2019.
This was the first in a series of simulations to help the team prepare for the launch of Artemis 1, the uncrewed first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A burst of flame from a J-2X Powerpack test-firing lights up the sky on Dec. 5, 2012 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. For the first time, the Space Launch System team invited Twitter followers behind-the-scenes for an all-day Tweet Chat, allowing the public to track test day activities and ask questions during this 1,286-second test.
The J-2X engine, built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., will power the upper stage of NASA's Space Launch System, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The new heavy-lift rocket system will launch the Orion spacecraft and enable humans to explore new destinations beyond low Earth orbit.
Image credit: NASA/SSC
View original image/caption:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/j2x/ppt_dec5_2.html
More about the J-2X Engine Development:
There's a Flickr photoset about the J-2X egnine development, if you'd like to know more: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157625345364038/
_____________________________________________
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...
Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane and lifting mechanism are used to lift the first of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket away from the railcar. The booster segment will be lifted into the vertical position. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will conduct a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations using the booster segments, which are inert, to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. The pathfinder boosters arrived at Kennedy from Orbital ATK in Utah aboard an Iowa Northern train contracted by Goodloe Transportation of Chicago. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Stennis Space Center engineers and technicians watch as the J-2X powerpack is hoisted into place in the A-1 test stand Dec. 5.
For engineers working on the J-2X engine program, installation of the upgraded J-2X powerpack on the A-1 Test Stand on Dec. 5 had to feel like a long-awaited holiday gift.
The powerpack consists of a gas generator and turbopumps and is a critical component for the new engine. It is responsible for pumping liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the engine’s main combustion chamber to produce the needed thrust capability. Arrival and installation of the next-generation engine component marked the culmination of more than two years of extensive modification work to prepare the A-1 stand for the critical test series. The major work effort began after NASA engineers completed an initial series of tests on a heritage J-2 engine powerpack in mid-2008.
Read the NASA Web feature:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/j2x/11-152.html
Image credit: NASA/SSC
More about the J-2X Engine Development:
There's a Flickr photoset about the J-2X egnine development, if you'd like to know more: www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/sets/72157625345364038/
_____________________________________________
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...
Members of the Artemis 1 launch team, including personnel with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs Test and Operations Contract (TOSC), participate in validation testing inside Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, 2019.
The team includes personnel with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs Test and Operations Contract (TOSC). The simulation was designed to validate the firing room consoles and communications systems, as well as the new Spaceport Command and Control System (SCCS), which will operate, monitor and coordinate ground equipment in preparation for Artemis 1, the uncrewed first flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA’s upgraded crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) begins its trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Launch Pad 39B to test recently completed upgrades and modifications for NASA’s journey to Mars. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy oversaw upgrades to the crawler in the VAB. The crawler will carry the mobile launcher with Orion atop the Space Launch System rocket to Pad 39B for Exploration Mission-1, scheduled for 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Members of the media visited the International Space Station Processing Facility "high bay" on August 11, 2017 to view the Space Launch System's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS). Representative from NASA and Boeing were on hand to answer questions.
The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) is the first segment for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to arrive at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is currently in the Space Station Processing Facility. The ICPS will be located at the very top of the SLS, just below the Orion capsule. During Exploration Mission-1, NASA's first test mission of the SLS rocket and Orion, the ICPS, filled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, will give Orion the big in-space push needed to fly beyond the Moon before returning to Earth. The ICPS was designed and built by ULA in Decatur, Alabama, and Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama.
(Photos by Michael Seeley / We Report Space)
Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first half of the J-level work platforms for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is lifted by crane for installation in High Bay 3. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to High Bay 3 to support processing of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. A total of 10 levels of new platforms, 20 platform halves altogether, will surround the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and provide access for testing and processing. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
A radome has been installed over an S-band antenna at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The antenna, seen from the inside, is designed to provide a crucial tracking capability following liftoff of the agency's Space Launch System rocket. A radome is a weatherproof structural enclosure designed to protect an antenna or radar system and is constructed of material that interferes minimally with the electromagnetic signal transmitted or received. The S-band portion of the microwave spectrum combines voice, television, telemetry, command, tracking and ranging into a single system.
Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
Welders work on 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, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. When construction is 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...
An elevated view of the overhead gantry crane system inside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. These yellow steel cranes are used to lift and maneuver rocket sections, including the massive Space Launch System core stages, within the cavernous production hall. The network of platforms, rails, and suspended hooks demonstrates the industrial scale of spacecraft manufacturing that has taken place here since the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
At NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Orion's newly completed pressure vessel for the Artemis III mission is lifted out of the welding tool. The pressure vessel is the primary structure for Orion's crew module, joined together using state-of-the-art welding by technicians from lead contractor Lockheed Martin.
Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker
Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians and engineers with Jacobs Engineering on the Test and Operations Support Contract, monitor the progress as a crane lowers the first of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket onto a test stand. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs will conduct a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations using the booster segments, which are inert, to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. The pathfinder boosters arrived at Kennedy from Orbital ATK in Utah aboard an Iowa Northern train contracted by Goodloe Transportation of Chicago. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
The NASA Photo Social at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, Louisiana, gathered social media-savvy photographers together on August 16 and 17 to snap and share photos of the facility where NASA is building components for its deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, and crew vehicle, the Orion spacecraft. NASA Michoud is a world-class facility that is unique because it is one of the largest production buildings in the nation with a rich history of manufacturing excellence.
Image Credit: NASA/Steven Seipel
The core stage stores liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines and anchor the boosters that help the rocket escape Earth’s gravity.
LEARN MORE - www.boeing.com/space/space-launch-system/
The Orion Stage Adapter (OSA), secured on flatbed transporter, is inside the low bay at the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The OSA is the second flight-hardware section of the agency'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 SSPF in preparation for Exploration Mission-1, the first uncrewed, integrated launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The mobile launcher (ML) that will support NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 is in view at the Mobile Launcher Park Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ML base and tower structure were modified to accommodate the weight, size and thrust at launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. A contract recently was awarded to J.P. Donovan Construction Inc. of Rockledge, Florida, to begin the next phase of work on the 380-foot-tall (including the base) steel structure. The scope of work includes the installation of mechanical, electrical and fluid subsystems, including 800 mechanical, fluid and electrical panels, about 300,000-plus feet of cabling, and miles of tubing and piping. The ML is one of the key elements of ground support equipment that is being upgraded by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program at Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Boeing and NASA today completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage and avionics, validating the design of the rocket that will send humans beyond low Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.
In this photo, Boeing weld technician Richard Oramous, weld engineer Tim Livengood and weld technician Gary Bennett (left to right) observe a Self Reacting Friction Stir Weld development test weld in progress at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in support of the SLS.
Boeing provides this photo for the public to share. Media interested in high-resolution images for publication should email boeingmedia@boeing.com or visit boeing.mediaroom.com. Users may not manipulate or use this photo in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products, or promotions without licensed permission from Boeing. If you are interested in using Boeing imagery for commercial purposes, email imagelicensing@boeing.com or visit www.boeingimages.com.
Nyla Trumbach, Test Operations Engineer for A-1 Test Stand at NASA Stennis explains what it's like behind the controls as the Test Conductor during a RS-25 Engine test. Media and social media followers had an invitation to watch as NASA tested the RS-25 engine like those that will power the rocket that launches astronauts on missions to an asteroid and to Mars. The test took place on Thursday, August 13, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.