Month: July 2024

NASA’s Rocket On Roll: Core Stage Arrives at Vehicle Assembly Building

After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Once inside, SLS will be prepared for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II launch.
After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for the Artemis II mission is inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Tugboats and towing vessels moved the barge and core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was manufactured and assembled.

Team members with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program safely transferred the 212-foot-tall core stage from the agency’s Pegasus barge, which arrived at NASA Kennedy’s Complex 39 turn basin wharf on July 23, onto the self-propelled module transporter, which is used to move large elements of hardware. It was then rolled to the Vehicle Assembly Building transfer aisle where teams will process it until it is ready for rocket stacking operations.

In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.

NASA’s Artemis Rocket Core Stage Journeys to Florida

Image shows NASA's Pegasus barge carrying the core stage for the Artemis II launch
NASA’s Pegasus barge, carrying the agency’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) core stage, arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Complex 39 turn basin wharf in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, after journeying from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage is the next piece of Artemis hardware to arrive at the spaceport and will be offloaded and moved to NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepared for integration ahead of the Artemis II launch. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for the Artemis II mission arrived on Tuesday, July 23, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage will help power SLS when it launches four astronauts around the Moon for the first crewed flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II test flight.

The core stage, aboard NASA’s Pegasus barge, traveled from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and spent seven days coasting through the Gulf of Mexico and then the Atlantic Ocean before arriving at NASA Kennedy’s Complex 39 turn basin wharf.

The 212-foot-tall SLS core stage, its propellant tanks, avionics, flight computer systems, and four RS-25 engines, were manufactured and assembled at NASA Michoud. Now, teams with NASA Kennedy’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will prepare the rocket stage for integration ahead of launch.

The only rocket that can send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon on a single launch is the Space Launch System. Its core stage provides more than two million pounds of thrust and the whole rocket provides 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch Artemis II to the Moon.

Up next, the core stage will roll to NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where teams will process it until it is ready for rocket stacking operations.

Follow the livestream of the core stage offload online expected to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

NASA Kennedy Teams Complete Water Flow Tests for Artemis II Mission  

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems conducts a water flow test with the mobile launcher at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida on Oct. 24, 2023. It is the third in a series of tests to verify the overpressure protection and sound suppression system is ready for launch of the Artemis II mission. During liftoff, 400,000 gallons of water will rush onto the pad to help protect NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion spacecraft, mobile launcher, and launch pad from any over pressurization and extreme sound produced during ignition and liftoff. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program successfully completed tests of the ignition overpressure protection and sound suppression and launch cooling systems at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These systems will protect the mobile launcher umbilicals and other crucial ground systems during liftoff of the Artemis II mission. 

When SLS’s (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters ignite, the RS-25 engines start up, and the rocket comes to life, there will be a thundering amount of noise, heat, and energy produced at liftoff. To ensure the crew, SLS, the Orion spacecraft and the surrounding ground infrastructure are protected during launch, teams practiced releasing approximately 400,000 gallons of water from large overhead holding tanks onto the mobile launcher and the pad’s flame deflector. The water will provide protection from the extreme heat generated by SLS’s exhaust and help suppress the sound produced at liftoff. 

Recent upgrades to the mobile launcher were designed to enhance the performance of these systems and assure better launch imagery. Some of the upgrades include:  

  • New water balancing plates on the mobile launcher and pad piping to allow higher water flow rates  
  • Redesigned rainbird water nozzles to allow increased water flow rates and improved mobile launcher deck water coverage 
  • New hydrogen burn-off ignitor and camera water barriers for protection from the increased mobile launcher deck water flow  
  • Raised camera housings and additional splash shields around the lenses to maximize amount of video obtained during launch 
  • Adding additional levels on the mobile launcher to protect the emergency egress baskets and pilot line hoist motors  

The water flows were conducted as part of a series of integrated ground systems tests intended to confirm that various systems on the mobile launcher and at Launch Pad 39B work as intended, both individually and with each other. 

The Artemis II mission builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I mission and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed for missions to the Moon and beyond. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and confirm the spacecraft systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the environment of deep space.