View allAll Photos Tagged SpaceLaunchSystem
Boeing engineer Tony Castilleja chats about space with Raisbeck Aviation High School students.
Tony 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...
Senior NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding monitors operations from his position in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center during a countdown simulation for Exploration Mission-1. It was the agency's first simulation of a portion of the countdown for the first launch of a Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
On September 8, 2018, the ML moved into High Bay 3 in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will stay 7 months for fit tests. (Pics: Michael Seeley / We Report Space)
Under the watchful eye of technicians and engineers, a crane is prepared to lift the Orion crew access arm (CAA) so it can be attached to the mobile launcher (ML) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 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, or 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/Michelle Stone
A 250-ton crane is used to lift the second half of the K-level work platforms for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket up from High Bay 4 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform is being lifted up and over the transfer aisle and will be lowered into High Bay 3 for installation. It will be secured about 86 feet above the VAB floor, on tower E of the high bay. 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. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
Just north of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare a crane to lift the core stage forward skirt umbilical for installation onto the mobile launcher. The mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing and check-out of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
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_0274proc
NASA's Super Guppy aircraft taxies onto the tarmac after touching down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Super Guppy is carrying the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA), the second flight-hardware section of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that has arrived at Kennedy. The OSA will connect the Orion spacecraft to the upper part of the SLS rocket, 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
Happy Friday, Flickr friends. Found one more really good "smoke and fire image" from the Jan. 10 test. Have a great weekend.
On Jan. 10, 2013, the Saturn V F-1 gas generator completed a 20-second hot-fire test. Engineers are completing a series of tests at Test Stand 116 located in the East Test Area at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The primary test objectives are to gather performance data from the refurbished gas generator and to demonstrate new test stand capabilities for conducting future tests with liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene fuel, known as Rocket Propellant 1. This digital data also will help engineers refine engine combustion computer models and analyze different fuel mixture ratios and soot production. All data will be valuable for the development of advanced propulsion systems.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC
Read more:
www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/f1_sls.html
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/
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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...
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: Eric Bordelon
Upgrades and modifications continue to the flame trench at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Pad B 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 the journey to Mars. For more information about GSDO, visit: www.nasa.gov/groundsystems. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Lockheed Martin technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, complete the final weld on the pressure vessel of the Orion crew module for Exploration Mission-2, the first flight of Orion with astronauts which will carry them farther into the solar system than ever before.
Just north of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane is prepared to lift the core stage forward skirt umbilical for installation onto the mobile launcher. The mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing and check-out of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
Just north of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians prepare a crane to lift the core stage forward skirt umbilical for installation onto the mobile launcher. The mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing and check-out of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
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 is one of the K-level work platforms that was 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
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a radome is being prepared for installation over an S-band antenna 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
A Space Launch System (SLS) avionics handling tool demonstration takes place inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on April 4, 2019. The demonstration showed that avionics boxes could be successfully and safely mounted into the SLS rocket’s upper stage — called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS — with low risk of damaging a closely located hydrazine tank. Avionics boxes include the Inertial Navigation and Control Assembly and flight batteries. The actual installation will take place just weeks before NASA’s SLS rocket and uncrewed Orion spacecraft lift off on Exploration Mission-1 from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy. NASA/Cory Huston
Jacobs technicians, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, practice crane operations with an inert booster rocket segment in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility on June 22, 2018, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dual cranes are being used to move the segment from vertical to horizontal, a maneuver known as a "breakover rotation." As part of routine processing operations for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the RPSF team will receive all of the solid rocket fuel segments for inspection and preparation prior to transporting them to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking on the mobile launcher. Many pathfinding operations are being done to prepare for launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft on Exploration Mission-1 and deep space missions. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Eight!
Thirty!
Three!
We are now officially one day away from the scheduled 8:33am Monday (8/29) launch of the Space Launch System, Orion and the #Artemis1 mission.
Pic from Saturday morning during remote camera setup.
The right hand aft skirt for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been refurbished and painted and is in a drying cell in a support building at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle-era aft skirt will be used on the right hand booster of the SLS for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep space missions, and the Journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The right hand aft skirt for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has been painted and is in a drying cell in a support building at the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space shuttle-era aft skirt will be used on the right hand booster of NASA's Space Launch System rocket for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep space missions, and the Journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a radome is being prepared for installation over an S-band antenna 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/Kim Shiflett
The left hand aft skirt for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrives at the Booster Fabrication Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The space shuttle-era aft skirt, was inspected, resurfaced, primed and painted for use on the left hand booster of the SLS rocket for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep-space missions, and the journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The engine vertical installer for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) arrives inside the Vehicle Assembly at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 25, 2019. The engine installer arrived from the manufacturer, Precision Fabrication and Cleaning in Canaveral Groves, Florida. The new ground support equipment will be ready for preflight processing in the event one of the four RS-25 engines on the core stage of the SLS rocket needs to be replaced. During launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft, the four core stage engines will provide the thrust needed to lift the rocket and Orion spacecraft off Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy for Exploration Mission-1. The uncrewed Orion will travel on a three-week test mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Preparations are underway to lift the second half of the K-level work platforms for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket up from High Bay 4 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform will be lifted up and over the transfer aisle and then lowered into High Bay 3 for installation. It will be secured about 86 feet above the VAB floor, on tower E of the high bay. 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. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
A Space Launch System (SLS) avionics handling tool demonstration takes place inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on April 4, 2019. The demonstration showed that avionics boxes could be successfully and safely mounted into the SLS rocket’s upper stage — called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS — with low risk of damaging a closely located hydrazine tank. Avionics boxes include the Inertial Navigation and Control Assembly and flight batteries. The actual installation will take place just weeks before NASA’s SLS rocket and uncrewed Orion spacecraft lift off on Exploration Mission-1 from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy. NASA/Cory Huston
NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson follows operations at her console in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center during a countdown simulation for Exploration Mission-1. It was the agency's first simulation of a portion of the countdown for the first launch of a Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson stands next to her console in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center during a countdown simulation for Exploration Mission-1. It was the agency's first simulation of a portion of the countdown for the first launch of a Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft that will eventually take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
A heavy load transport truck passes through the north entrance gate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the second half of the F-level work platforms for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The platform will be delivered to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) staging area in the west parking lot. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to VAB 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. Delivery of this platform brings the total to 10 platforms, or half of the work platforms delivered to Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
At NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians position an S-band antenna 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
Lockheed Martin technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, complete the final weld on the pressure vessel of the Orion crew module for Exploration Mission-2, the first flight of Orion with astronauts which will carry them farther into the solar system than ever before.
Just north of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane is prepared to lift the core stage forward skirt umbilical) for installation onto the mobile launcher. The mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing and check-out of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
Members of the news media watch as two cranes are used to lift one of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket into the vertical position inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pathfinder booster segment will be moved to the other end of the RPSF and secured on a test stand. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will prepare the booster segments, which are inert, for a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
Members of the news media watch as a crane is used to move one of two pathfinders, or test versions, of solid rocket booster segments for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket to a test stand in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside the RPSF, the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program and Jacobs Engineering, on the Test and Operations Support Contract, will prepare the booster segments, which are inert, for a series of lifts, moves and stacking operations to prepare for Exploration Mission-1, deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
The engine vertical installer for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is inside the Vehicle Assembly at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 25, 2019. The engine installer will be lifted up by crane for transfer to High Bay 3. The engine installer arrived from the manufacturer, Precision Fabrication and Cleaning in Canaveral Groves, Florida. The new ground support equipment will be ready for preflight processing in the event one of the four RS-25 engines on the core stage of the SLS rocket needs to be replaced. During launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft, the four core stage engines will provide the thrust needed to lift the rocket and Orion spacecraft off Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy for Exploration Mission-1. The uncrewed Orion will travel on a three-week test mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
A heavy load transport truck proceeds along the road toward the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the second half of the F-level work platforms for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The platform will be delivered to the VAB staging area in the west parking lot. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is overseeing upgrades and modifications to VAB 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. Delivery of this platform brings the total to 10 platforms, or half of the work platforms delivered to Kennedy. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
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 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. 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
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a radome is being prepared for installation over an S-band antenna 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
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lowers a radome to cover an S-band antenna. The antenna 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
At NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians lift an S-band antenna for mounting 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
Lockheed Martin technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, complete the final weld on the pressure vessel of the Orion crew module for Exploration Mission-2, the first flight of Orion with astronauts which will carry them farther into the solar system than ever before.
Just north of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the core stage forward skirt umbilical is prepped and rigged for installation onto the mobile launcher. The mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing and check-out of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
Bethany March, an element integration engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Alabama, speaks to members of the news media during a tour of the Booster Fabrication Facility (BFF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital ATK is a contractor for MSFC, and operates the BFF to prepare aft booster segments and hardware for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters. To her left is Rick Serfozo, Orbital ATK Florida site director. The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will launch on Exploration Mission-1 in 2018. The Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is preparing the infrastructure to process and launch spacecraft for deep-space missions and the journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Bill White
The left hand aft skirt for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrives at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from the Hangar AF facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The aft skirt will be transported to the Booster Fabrication Facility. The space shuttle-era aft skirt, was inspected, resurfaced, primed and painted for use on the left hand booster of the SLS rocket for Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1). NASA is preparing for EM-1, deep-space missions, and the journey to Mars. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The engine vertical installer for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is inside the Vehicle Assembly at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 25, 2019. The engine installer is being lifted up by crane for transfer to High Bay 3. The engine installer arrived from the manufacturer, Precision Fabrication and Cleaning in Canaveral Groves, Florida. The new ground support equipment will be ready for preflight processing in the event one of the four RS-25 engines on the core stage of the SLS rocket needs to be replaced. During launch of the SLS and Orion spacecraft, the four core stage engines will provide the thrust needed to lift the rocket and Orion spacecraft off Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy for Exploration Mission-1. The uncrewed Orion will travel on a three-week test mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, construction workers watch as 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 view from high 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. 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
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lifts a radome to cover an S-band antenna. The antenna 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