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Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs successfully completed the Umbilical Release and Retract Test on Sept. 19 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the Artemis I mission.
The umbilicals will provide power, communications, coolant, and fuel to the rocket and the Orion spacecraft while at the launch pad until they disconnect and retract at ignition and liftoff.
This is a close-up view of the Artemis I Space Launch System rocket inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 20, 2021. All 10 levels of work platforms have been retracted from around the rocket as part of the umbilical release and retract test. During the test, several umbilical arms on the mobile launcher were extended to connect to the SLS rocket and then swung away from the launch vehicle, just as they will on launch day. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. 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/Frank Michaux
Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
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A full Moon is in view from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022. The Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher, are being prepared for a wet dress rehearsal to practice timelines and procedures for launch. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and using the Moon as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. The next wet dress rehearsal attempt for the #Artemis I mission is set to begin tomorrow with a “call to stations”. Although the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will not have a crew of astronauts on board, there are several experienced teams of people behind the mission.
Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
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Crews transported the heat shield skin for a future mission of NASA's Orion spacecraft -- via the agency's Super Guppy oversize cargo transport aircraft -- to Moffett Federal Airfield on Nov. 9. The heat shield skin for the Artemis IV mission, the third crewed mission to the Moon, is now at Moffett Federal Airfield near NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, for the next phase of production.
Orion's heat shield protects the spacecraft and the astronauts inside the capsule from the intense heat generated while re-entering Earth's atmosphere. When the spacecraft re-enters at roughly 25,000 miles per hour, the heat shield will experience extreme temperatures at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or about half as hot as the sun. The heat shield has an underlying titanium skeleton covered by a carbon fiber skin. More than 180 unique blocks are bonded to the heat shield's skin and will slowly burn away as the spacecraft travels through Earth's atmosphere during re-entry.
Unlike other aircraft, the Super Guppy aircraft has a specially designed hinged nose that opens to an angle of 110 degrees so that cargo can be loaded and unloaded from its belly. The aircraft's unique shape also allows it to carry bulky or heavy hardware that would not otherwise fit on traditional aircraft.
Image Credit: NASA
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The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis I mission, fully assembled with its launch abort system, is lifted above the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The stacking of Orion on top of the SLS completes assembly for the Artemis I flight test. Teams will begin conducting a series of verification tests ahead of rolling out to Launch Complex 39B for the Wet Dress Rehearsal. Artemis I will be an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and establish sustainable lunar exploration.
Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
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Crews with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs stacked the launch vehicle stage adapter atop the core stage June 22 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis I mission, the first integrated flight test of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The 30-foot-tall, cone-shaped piece of hardware connects the SLS rocket’s upper and lower propulsion stages. The adapter also houses the RL10 engine that powers the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will send Orion on a precise trajectory to the Moon.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft is seen atop a mobile launcher on June 6, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA has completed the design certification review (DCR) for the Space Launch System Program (SLS) rocket ahead of the Artemis I mission to send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon. This close-up view shows the SLS rocket for Artemis I inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 20, 2021. Inside the VAB, the rocket recently completed the umbilical retract and release test and the integrated modal test. With the completion of the SLS design, NASA has now certified the SLS and Orion spacecraft designs, as well as the new Launch Control Center at Kennedy for the Artemis I mission.
Image Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
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The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a second hot fire test, Thursday, March 18, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines fired for the full-duration of 8 minutes during the test and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. The hot fire test is the final stage of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the Space Launch System’s core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the Moon.
Credit: NASA
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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs lower the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage – the largest part of the rocket – onto the mobile launcher, in between the twin solid rocket boosters, inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 12, 2021. The 188,000-pound core stage, with its four RS-25 engines, will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent, and coupled with the boosters, will provide more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send the Artemis I mission to space. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, as well as establish a sustainable presence on the lunar surface in preparation for human missions to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs lower the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage – the largest part of the rocket – onto the mobile launcher, in between the twin solid rocket boosters, inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 12, 2021.
Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
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NASA’s Orion spacecraft is secured atop the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, and the integrated system is entering the final phase of preparations for an upcoming uncrewed flight test around the Moon. The mission, known as Artemis I, will pave the way for a future flight test with crew before NASA establishes a regular cadence of more complex missions with astronauts on and around the Moon under Artemis. With stacking complete, a series of integrated tests now sit between the mega-Moon rocket and targeted liftoff for deep space in February 2022.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA completed stacking Oct. 21, 2021, of the agency's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I uncrewed mission around the Moon. The stacking operations were conducted inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image Credit: NASA
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Stacking is complete for the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for NASA's Artemis I mission. Over several weeks, workers used one of five massive cranes to place 10 booster segments and nose assemblies on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems placed the first segment on Nov. 21, 2020, and continued the process until the final nose assembly was placed on March 2. Prior to the arrival of the core stage, the team will finish installing electrical instrumentation and pyrotechnics, then test the systems on the boosters. When the SLS core stage arrives at Kennedy, technicians will transport it to the VAB, and then stack it on the mobile launcher between the two boosters. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, producing up to 8.8 million pounds of thrust during its Artemis I launch.
Artemis I will be an uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA aims to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon and establish sustainable lunar exploration.
Credit: NASA
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A real finale! @NASA, @BoeingSpace, and @AerojetRdyne have completed the final test of the core stage Green Run test series for NASA's Space Launch System rocket at @NASAStennis. Today, propellant flowed through the tanks, all the flight computers and avionics systems operated, and the four RS-25 engines fired simultaneously. Next time this stage operates, the SLS rocket will be launching the agency's first #Artemis mission to the Moon. Check out our Instagram Stories for highlights from the day!
Credit: NASA
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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs integrate the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) atop the massive SLS core stage in the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 5, 2021.
Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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Final stacking operations for NASA's mega-Moon rocket are underway inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the Orion spacecraft is lifted onto the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis I mission.
Next, teams will slowly lower it onto the fully stacked SLS rocket and connect it to the Orion Stage Adapter. This will require the EGS team to align the spacecraft perfectly with the adapter before gently attaching the two together. This operation will take several hours to make sure Orion is securely in place.
Image Credit: NASA/Chad Siwik
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NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) team fully stacked three hardware elements together May 24 to form the top of the rocket’s core stage for the Artemis II mission. NASA and core stage prime contractor Boeing connected the forward skirt with the liquid oxygen tank and intertank flight hardware inside an assembly area at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Teams had previously stacked the liquid oxygen tank and intertank on April 28. The joining of the three structures together is the first major assembly of core stage hardware for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission and second flight of the SLS rocket. Next, technicians will work to complete outfitting and integrating the systems within the upper structure.
Image Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon
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This image is of the first core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as it departed Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on April 23, 2021, aboard the Pegasus barge, following completion of the Green Run series of tests of its design and systems. The stage now is in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. At Kennedy, the core stage will be integrated with the rest of the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft in preparation for launch. Through the Artemis program, NASA will return humans, including the first woman and first person of color, to the Moon and prepare for eventual journeys to Mars.
Credit: NASA
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Crews at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, worked April 19-20 to remove the first flight core stage of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket from the B-2 Test Stand in preparation for its transport to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Operations required crews to lift the core stage from its vertical placement in the stand and lower it to a horizontal position on the B-2 Test Stand tarmac. The stage now will be loaded on NASA’s Pegasus barge for transport to Kennedy, where it will be prepared for launch of the Artemis I mission. Removal of the largest rocket stage ever built by NASA followed completion of a series of eight Green Run tests over the past year. During the Green Run series, teams performed a comprehensive test of the stand’s sophisticated and integrated systems. The series culminated in a hot fire of the stage’s four RS-25 engines on the B-2 stand March 18. During the hot fire, the four engines generated a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust, just as during an actual launch. The test was the most powerful performed at Stennis in more than 40 years. NASA is building SLS, the world’s most powerful rocket, to return humans to deep space missions. As part of the backbone of NASA’s Artemis program, SLS will return humans, including the first woman and person of color, to the surface of the Moon to establish a sustainable presence and prepare for eventual missions to Mars.
Credit: NASA
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Future lunar landers might come equipped with 3D printed rocket engine parts that help bring down overall manufacturing costs and reduce production time. NASA is investing in advanced manufacturing – one of five industries of the future – to make it possible.
Through a series of hot-fire tests in November, NASA demonstrated that two additively manufactured engine components – a copper alloy combustion chamber and nozzle made of a high-strength hydrogen resistant alloy – could withstand the same extreme combustion environments that traditionally manufactured metal structures experience in flight.
Image credit: NASA
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The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a hot fire test, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines fired for a little more than one minute and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. The hot fire is part of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the Space Launch System’s core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the Moon.
Credit: NASA
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NASA conducted its fourth RS-25 single-engine hot fire of the year May 20, a continuation of its seven-part test series to support development and production of engines for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon. The engine was fired for more than 8 minutes (500 seconds) on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, the same amount of time RS-25 engines need to fire for launch of the SLS rocket. The test series is designed to provide valuable data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, prime contractor for the SLS engines, as it begins production of new engines for use after the first four SLS flights. Four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, will help power SLS at launch. With testing of the engines for the rocket’s first four Artemis program missions to the Moon already completed, operators now are focused on collecting data to demonstrate and verify various engine capabilities while reducing operational risk. During the May 20 test, the team fired the engine at 111% of its original power level for a set duration of time, the same level that RS-25 engines are required to operate during launch. SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built and the only one capable of sending Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission. As part of the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon and establish sustainable exploration in preparation for missions to Mars. SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway outpost in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. RS-25 tests at Stennis are conducted by a combined team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services operators. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations.
Credit: NASA
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NASA engineers successfully completed a 24-inch diameter subscale solid rocket test on Dec. 2, 2021, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in the East Test Area. The sub-scale motor produced 76,400 pounds of thrust during the hot fire test. This test was the first of two tests supporting the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) development effort that includes a new motor design for upcoming Artemis missions after Artemis VIII. This 334-inch motor was the longest subscale motor tested to date.
Image Credit: NASA
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The first solid rocket booster test for Space Launch System (SLS) missions beyond Artemis III is seen here during a two-minute hot fire test, Wednesday, September 2, 2020, at the T-97 Northrop Grumman test facility in Promontory, Utah. The flight support booster is structurally identical to each of the five-segment solid rocket boosters on the SLS rocket and produce more than 75 percent of the rocket's thrust capability.
The flight support booster test builds on prior tests and will allow NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, to evaluate the motor's performance using potential new materials and processes for future booster performance.
NASA is working to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and Human Landing System are part of NASA's backbone for deep space exploration. The Artemis program is the next step in human space exploration. It's part of Americ's broader Moon to Mars exploration approach, in which astronauts will explore the Moon. Experience gained there will enable humanity's next giant leap: sending humans to Mars. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
Credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman/Scott Mohrman
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The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for the second flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrived in Florida on July 28 for the final phase of production. The stage and its single RL10 engine provide the in-space propulsion needed to send NASA’s Orion spacecraft and its crew on a precise trajectory to the Moon for Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis lunar missions. It is the first piece of the rocket for the Artemis II flight to arrive in Florida. Boeing and United Launch Alliance, the contractor team for the stage, shipped the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage from ULA’s facilities in Decatur, Alabama, to its Delta IV Operation Center at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The stage will undergo final processing and checkout before it is transported to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.
With Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface and establish long-term exploration at the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars. SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
Image Credit: ULA
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NASA conducted a fifth RS-25 single-engine hot fire July 14 as a continuation of its ongoing seven-part test series, supporting development and production of engines for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon. Operators fired the engine for more than eight minutes (500 seconds) on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, providing data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, lead contractor for the SLS engines, as it produces engines for use after the first four SLS flights. Four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, will help power SLS, firing simultaneously to generate a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust at launch and 2 million pounds during ascent. With testing of RS-25 engines for the first four Artemis program missions to the Moon completed, operators are now focused on collecting data to demonstrate and verify various engine capabilities, evaluate new engine components manufactured with cutting-edge and cost-saving technologies, and reduce operational risk. During the July 14 test, the team fired the engine at 111% of its original power level for a set time, the same level that RS-25 engines are required to operate during launch, as well as 113%, which allowed operators to test a margin of safety. NASA is building SLS as the world's most powerful rocket to send the agency's Orion spacecraft to the Moon as part of Artemis, including missions that will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface. The agency is working towards launch of the Artemis I uncrewed flight test this year, which will pave the way for future flights with astronauts to explore the lunar surface and prepare for missions to Mars. SLS and Orion, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway outpost in orbit around the Moon, are NASA's backbone for deep space exploration. RS-25 tests at Stennis are conducted by a combined team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services operators. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations.
Credit: NASA
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Driving down a bumpy gravel road, even an off-road vehicle experiences bumps and vibrations, partly because of the car’s natural frequency. An object's natural frequency is the frequency or rate that it vibrates naturally when struck. When forces like speed and the smoothness of the road are just right, the car will vibrate in tune with that same frequency.
Rockets flying through the atmosphere to space, including NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), are no different. They have natural frequencies and experience dynamic forces during launch and ascent. Understanding those frequencies and what they look like is critical to steering SLS and the Orion spacecraft safely through the atmospheric "road" to space.
To safely control the rocket's flight, the flight software and navigation system must distinguish the rocket's natural frequencies from the vibration frequencies experienced during flight. That's why teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are performing integrated modal testing to determine the different modes of vibration with the recently stacked, integrated SLS rocket before launch of the Artemis I mission.
Here, modal testing is underway in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, using the Orion stage adapter structural test article and the Mass Simulator for Orion. The test hardware articles have the same weight and mass characteristics as their respective flight components.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA conducted a long-duration RS-25 single-engine test April 28, continuing its seven-part test series to support development and production of engines for future missions of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Operators fired the engine for almost 11 minutes (650 seconds) on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, providing valuable data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, lead contractor for the SLS engines, as it begins production of new engines for use after the first four SLS flights. Four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, will help power SLS at launch. Engines for the rocket’s first four Artemis program missions to the Moon already have been tested. Operators now are focused on collecting data to demonstrate and verify various engine capabilities, evaluate new engine components manufactured with cutting-edge and cost-saving technologies, eliminate operating risks, and enhance engine production. The latest 650-second duration test represents the time three engines would have to fire to burn up propellant and power SLS to orbit, if the fourth engine shut down early during launch.
Credit: NASA
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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.
Both the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are making progress towards Artemis missions to the Moon. With the spacecraft for the Artemis I and II missions manufactured as part of the design and development phase, the Artemis III pressure vessel is the first crew module structure off the line in the long-term production phase. Next, it will ship to NASA's Kennedy Space Center where teams will begin integration of Orion's systems.
Orion, SLS, and the Exploration Ground Systems are foundational elements of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach. Artemis I will be the first integrated flight test of Orion and SLS and is targeted to launch later this year. Artemis II will follow as the first crewed mission, taking humans around the Moon and back to Earth to pave the way for future missions to the Gateway and the lunar surface aboard a commercial human landing system. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and prepare for human missions to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon
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As crews at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida assemble the Moon rocket for the Artemis I mission, teams have installed the flight software that will help steer, fly, track, and guide the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during launch and ascent to space. Engineers loaded the flight software onto the rocket on Aug. 6 after powering up the core stage that contains the flight computers for the first time since stacking began.
With the software installed, the engineers that developed the flight software at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are supporting final checkouts and completing tests to certify the software for the mission.
In this image, crews with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are assembling the Space Launch System rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis I mission to the Moon. The largest piece of SLS is the 212-foot orange core stage that forms the backbone of the rocket. At launch, the SLS rocket’s two solid rocket boosters, seen here mounted on the side of the core stage, and the core stage’s four RS-25 engines fire together to produce more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Inside the core stage are the flight computers and avionics systems that steer, fly, track, and guide the rocket during its launch and ascent to space.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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NASA completed manufacturing of a hydrogen tank barrel that will be tested as a weld confidence article for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s Exploration Upper Stage (EUS). Weld confidence articles help establish welding procedures and interfaces between the tooling and hardware and ensure the structural integrity of the welds. Starting with the Artemis IV mission, the EUS will provide the power to send astronauts in NASA’s Orion spacecraft and heavy cargo on a precise trajectory to the Moon.
After NASA and lead contractor Boeing completed manufacturing of the test tank barrel at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, technicians moved it from the Vertical Weld Center where it was built to the Vertical Assembly Center for further processing. Engineers will cut the barrel into small sections for mechanical testing and analysis that will help verify the parameters that will be used to build the rocket stage.
For NASA’s first three Artemis missions, the SLS rocket will use an interim cryogenic propulsion stage with one RL10 engine to send Orion to the Moon. The EUS will be used on the rocket’s Block IB evolved configuration for flights beyond Artemis III.
The upper stage has larger propellant tanks and four RL10 engines. The evolution of the rocket to SLS Block 1B configuration with EUS enables SLS to launch 40% more cargo to the Moon along with the crew. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and heavy cargos to the Moon in a single mission. The SLS rocket, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and commercial human landing systems are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration.
Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA marked a significant milestone Sept. 30 in its plans for future missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars with completion of an RS-25 single-engine Retrofit-2 test series at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
A full-duration hot fire of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0528 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis culminated a seven-test series to support development and production of new engines for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions.
Credit: NASA
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NASA conducted its sixth RS-25 single-engine hot fire Aug. 5 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a continuation of its seven-part test series to support development and production of engines for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon. Operators fired the engine for more than eight minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines need to fire for launch of the SLS rocket. Four RS-25 engines, with a pair of solid rocket boosters, will help power SLS at launch. NASA already has tested engines for the rocket's first four Artemis missions to the Moon, allowing operators to turn their focus towards collecting data to demonstrate and verify various engine capabilities for future engines. Along with providing performance data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, lead contractor for the SLS engines, the Aug. 5 test enabled the team to evaluate new engine components manufactured with cutting-edge and cost-saving technologies, eliminate operating risks, and enhance engine production. In addition to operating the engine at 109% of its original power level for extended periods during the hot fire, NASA verified new manufacturing processes while evaluating the performance of the engine's low-pressure fuel turbopump. The pump significantly boosts the pressure of liquid hydrogen delivered to the high-pressure fuel turbopump to help prevent cavitating, the forming of "bubbles" or "voids", which can collapse or cause shock waves that may damage machinery. NASA is building SLS as the world's most powerful rocket to send the agency's Orion spacecraft to the Moon. With Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface and establish long-term exploration at the Moon in preparation for human missions to Mars. SLS and Orion, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway outpost in orbit around the Moon, are NASA's backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission. An integrated team conducts RS-25 tests at Stennis Space Center, including NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Syncom Space Services, the prime contractor of Stennis facilities and operations.
Credit: NASA
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Technicians have loaded the last of 10 CubeSats into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's five-foot-tall Orion stage adapter at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After the Orion spacecraft separates from the SLS rocket for a precise trajectory toward the Moon, the shoebox-sized payloads are released from the Orion stage adapter to conduct their own science and technology missions.
SLS's main goal for the Artemis I mission is to successfully send the uncrewed Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit where it can test out critical spacecraft systems and then return to Earth testing the spacecraft's heat shield at lunar reentry speeds. The Orion stage adapter connects the rocket to Orion and contains room inside the adapter to provide a rare opportunity to send the CubeSats to deep space using extra lift-capacity on the uncrewed mission. The CubeSats will study everything from the Moon to asteroids to the deep space radiation environment. Each CubeSat provides its own propulsion and navigation to get to various deep space destinations.
Here, the Jacobs team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida installing the last of 10 CubeSats in the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s Orion stage adapter. Biosentinel, the final CubeSat to be loaded, will study how radiation affects living organisms in deep space. Biosentinel joins nine other CubeSats that will be studying a variety of destinations, including the Moon, and scientific areas important to deep space exploration.
Image Credit: NASA
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NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has completed stacking the solid rocket boosters that will help power NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Artemis I, the first integrated lunar mission of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft through the agency’s Artemis program. Technicians placed the forward nose assemblies on top of the forward booster motor segments of each booster March 2 and 3. The fully assembled boosters are the largest, most powerful solid rocket boosters ever built for spaceflight. Each five-segment solid rocket booster will produce more than 3.6 million pounds of thrust to propel NASA’s Artemis missions beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon. The solid rocket boosters are the first elements of the SLS rocket to be stacked on top of the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy. Together, each 17-story-tall booster, which features the NASA “Worm” logotype, bear the full weight of the SLS rocket. Next, teams will finish outfitting the boosters and prepare for the arrival of the SLS core stage following completion of the core stage Green Run test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The core stage will be integrated with the boosters on the mobile launcher, then the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft will be stacked on top and readied for launch.
NASA is working to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. SLS and Orion, along with the human landing system and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
Credit: NASA
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Technicians continue to prepare small satellites, called CubeSats, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch on the Artemis I mission. Technicians from the agency's Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs worked with developers of the shoebox-sized secondary payloads as they underwent final processing and were secured inside the Orion stage adapter.
The ring-shaped stage adapter will be connected to the Space Launch System (SLS) Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, and the Orion spacecraft will be secured on top. All CubeSats will be deployed after SLS completes its primary mission, launching the Orion spacecraft on a trajectory toward the Moon. Although small in size, the CubeSats will conduct a variety of science experiments and technology demonstrations including some that will expand our knowledge of the lunar surface during the Artemis I mission.
Artemis I will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and the ground systems at Kennedy. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
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Taken by the #NASAMichoud Assembly Facility photography team, this photo shows the Flower Moon and lunar eclipse over the city of New Orleans in the early morning hours on May 26.
Credit: NASA/Michoud
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NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage for the Artemis I mission arrived on April 27, 2021, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage arrived aboard the Pegasus barge from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf.
The core stage is shown being transported into the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building on a self-propelled module transporter on April 29, 2021. Teams from the center’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs will perform checkouts ahead of integrating the massive rocket stage with the twin solid rocket boosters, Orion spacecraft, and additional flight hardware ahead of the Artemis I launch.
Artemis I will be the first integrated test of SLS and Orion and will pave the way for landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface. It will be a proving ground for deep space exploration, leading the agency’s efforts under the Artemis program for a sustainable presence on the Moon and preparing for human missions to Mars.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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NASA has stacked the first piece of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the mobile launcher in preparation for the Artemis I launch next year. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers lowered the first of 10 segments into place Nov. 21 for the twin solid rocket boosters that will power the first flight of the agency’s new deep space rocket. Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon with the Artemis program.
The booster segments arrived by train at the Florida spaceport in June from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Utah to undergo final launch preparations. Stacking operations began Nov. 19 with engineers transporting a booster segment from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
Each booster consists of five segments and will provide 7 million pounds of thrust for the liftoff from Launch Pad 39B. When assembled, each booster will be about half the length of a football field, and together they will generate more thrust than 14 four-engine jumbo commercial airliners. Once stacked, the SLS rocket will stand taller than the Statue of Liberty and have about 15% more thrust at liftoff than the Apollo program Saturn V rocket, making it the most powerful rocket ever built.
Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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At NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, technicians from Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin have welded together three cone-shaped panels on Orion’s crew module for the Artemis III mission that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon.
The crew module’s primary structure, the pressure vessel, is comprised of seven machined aluminum alloy pieces that are welded together through a weld process that produces a strong, air-tight habitable space for astronauts during the mission. The pressure vessel is designed to withstand the harsh and demanding environment of deep space, and is the core structure upon which all the other elements of Orion’s crew module are integrated.
Credit: NASA
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NASA conducts the first hot fire Jan. 28 in a new series of tests for production of RS-25 engines that will help power the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future deep space missions. The test of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0528 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., marks the beginning of a seven-test series designed to provide valuable data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, leadcontractor for SLS engines, as the company begins production of new RS-25 engines. Four RS-25 engines help power SLS at launch, firing simultaneously to generate a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust at launch and 2 million pounds of thrust during ascent. NASA is building SLS as the world’s most powerful rocket. Initial SLS missions will fly to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, including the Artemis I uncrewed test flight this year that will pave the way for future flights with astronauts to explore the lunar surface and prepare for missions to Mars.
Credit: NASA
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The first four Artemis missions will use NASA’s 16 upgraded RS-25 engines that previously powered space shuttle flights. For future flights on the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA and prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne are changing the way they build major parts for the RS-25. Engineers and technicians are fabricating some of these parts using advanced manufacturing techniques that increase reliability while reducing both the cost and and time to build the engine.
The first RS-25 powerhead produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne in over a decade arrived at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on Oct. 25. Here, it will be installed to a flight certification engine built specifically for testing newly designed parts for the latest production RS-25 engine that will power SLS flights beyond Artemis IV.
The powerhead serves as the structural backbone to the RS-25. It houses three highly complex injectors that produce the combustion to power the engine and acts as a junction for several critical parts, including both high pressure pumps and the main combustion chamber.
Image Credit: NASA
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Teams at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed welding the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II, the first flight with astronauts. Teams moved the Artemis II launch vehicle stage adapter to another area of the Marshall facility to finish outfitting and assembly. The LVSA flight hardware is produced exclusively at Marshall by Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville.
Image Credit: NASA
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Congratulations to the winners of NASA's seventh annual "Photographer of the Year" awards. Michael DeMocker won first place in the category of Places for this stunning image of a Supermoon as it rose over Huntsville, Alabama, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, on Aug. 19, 2024. DeMocker works at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The full Moon was both a Supermoon and a Blue Moon. Supermoons are the biggest and brightest full Moons of the year because the Moon is within 90% of its closest point to Earth. While not blue in color, the third full Moon in a season with four full Moons is called a “Blue Moon.”
Credits: NASA/Michael DeMocker
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The fully stacked twin solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are mated atop the mobile launcher at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as stacking and assembly activities for NASA’s Artemis I mission are underway. Crews from the spaceport’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams are currently preparing to lift the 188,000-pound core stage and place it in between the two solid rocket boosters. Teams will use a specialized crane to lift, place, and secure the core stage on the mobile launcher inside the spaceport’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
The 212-foot-tall core stage, which will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust at launch, arrived at Kennedy on April 27. Together with the two solid rocket boosters, the SLS rocket will provide more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch the first of NASA’s next-generation Artemis Moon missions. Soon after the core stage activity, crews will stack and integrate other elements of the rocket needed for launch preparedness testing that occurs inside the VAB before final assembly of the rocket and the addition of the Orion spacecraft. The mobile launcher serves as a platform not just for stacking but as a key supplier of power, communications, coolants, and propellant for the rocket and spacecraft before launch.
With Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon and establish sustainable exploration in preparation for missions to Mars. SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, along with the commercial human landing system and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.
Credit: NASA
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