Tag: Artemis
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SLS core ready for shipment to Florida; NASA still hopes for late 2021 launch
Teams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi hoist the Space Launch System core stage out of the B-2 test stand April 19 after a hot fire test March 18. Credit: NASA Teams at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi removed the core of NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket from a test stand earlier…
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Our interview with Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator
Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now’s editor, asked NASA’s acting administrator about the space agency’s commercial crew and Artemis programs during a one-on-one virtual interview Tuesday, April 20. Email the author. Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
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After NASA taps SpaceX’s Starship for first Artemis landings, agency looks to on-ramp future vehicles
Following a year of testing and development, NASA recently selected SpaceX’s Starship-based Human Landing System (HLS) to land astronauts on the moon under the Artemis program. SpaceX’s proposal was the highest rated and lowest cost offering among three studied designs, the others provided by Blue Origin’s National Team and Dynetics. In contrast to NASA’s stated…
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NASA chooses SpaceX to land next astronauts on the Moon
Artist’s concept of a Starship on the moon. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected SpaceX to build a spacecraft to land the first astronauts on the Moon since 1972, choosing Elon Musk’s space company over competing proposals from Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and the aerospace firm Dynetics, officials announced Friday. A derivative of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship…
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NASA awards $2.9B to SpaceX for Starship lunar lander; Blue Origin team is left out
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s Starship rocket ship on the moon. (SpaceX Illustration) In a surprise move that was dictated by budget constraints, NASA is awarding $2.89 billion to SpaceX alone for the development of its Starship super-rocket as a lunar landing system for astronauts — leaving out Alabama-based Dynetics as well as a team…
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Astrobotic selects SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch robotic lunar lander
A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off in April 2019 with the Arabsat 6A commercial communications satellite. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now A commercial lunar lander built by Astrobotic will launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in late 2023 to deliver a water-hunting NASA rover to the moon’s…
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NASA SLS Green Run testing complete, Boeing readies Core Stage for tow to Florida
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing wrapped up the Green Run testing campaign on the Artemis 1 flight article at the Stennis Space Center and are readying the vehicle for its long-awaited shipment to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. After reviewing the performance of the vehicle from…
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Aerojet Rocketdyne refurbishing RS-25 engines for Artemis 1 launch and production restart testing
With the completion of another single-engine RS-25 development test, Aerojet Rocketdyne is now refurbishing five engines at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for their next use. After the second test firing of the Retrofit 2 series in the A-1 Test Stand on April 6, development engine 0528 is going through a streamlined refurbishment prior…
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Following troubled childhood, Orion trio preparing for flight
Once the troublesome element of the Constellation (now Artemis) Program, three Orion spacecraft are in various stages of preparation for flight, two of which now already reside at their Kennedy Space Center launch site. With the Artemis 3 Orion – set to depart Earth with the crew that will step foot on the surface of…
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EGS synchronizing Artemis 1 Orion, SLS Booster preps with Core Stage schedule
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime test and operations contractor (TOSC) Jacobs are working at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to position Artemis 1 Orion and Space Launch System (SLS) hardware to be ready for final assembly ahead of the arrival of the SLS Core Stage in the late-April time-frame. With the final…