Tag: Exploration Mission-1
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NASA making steady progress on SLS mobile launch platform
The crew access arm for the Space Launch System mobile launch platform is pictured in a storage location near the Kennedy Space Center last week. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now Construction crews at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are making steady progress outfitting the Space Launch System’s mobile platform with umbilical connections and access arms, and the…
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NASA rules out crew on first SLS flight
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of NASA’s Space Launch System. Credit: NASA NASA managers have ruled out putting a crew on board an Orion capsule atop the agency’s huge Space Launch System rocket for the gargantuan booster’s maiden flight in 2019, citing technical risks and higher costs, up to as much…
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NASA rules out crew on first SLS flight
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of NASA’s Space Launch System. Credit: NASA NASA managers have ruled out putting a crew on board an Orion capsule atop the agency’s huge Space Launch System rocket for the gargantuan booster’s maiden flight in 2019, citing technical risks and higher costs, up to as much…
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NASA confirms first flight of Space Launch System will slip to 2019
Artist’s concept of the Space Launch System lifting off from launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/MSFC NASA’s top human spaceflight official says the maiden flight of the Space Launch System, a behemoth booster designed to loft astronauts on expeditions into deep space, will be delayed from November 2018 until…
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New SLS engine controller tested in hold-down firing
A shuttle-era RS-25 rocket engine was fired at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Thursday in the first test of a new engine control computer that will launch on the first flight of the agency’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket as soon as late next year. The ground development engine was fired for 500…
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NASA studying whether to add astronauts to first launch of new super booster
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible — or advisable — to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space…
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Tornado strikes NASA’s Michoud plant in New Orleans
Employees and flight hardware for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spaceship were mostly spared after a strong tornado struck the agency’s Michoud plant in New Orleans on Tuesday, but crews planned to begin repairs immediately to plug holes in buildings housing parts and tools to build the new mega-rocket. The tornado hit Michoud in…
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Shuttle engine delivered to Orion service module assembly site
Orion’s service module engine undergoes vibration testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA A former space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine has been delivered to Germany for attachment to the European-built service module destined to steer NASA’s next Orion spacecraft on a course around the moon on an uncrewed test flight in…
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‘Great relief’ the worst of Hurricane Matthew stayed away from space center
Kennedy Space Center officials said Tuesday that Hurricane Matthew knocked out the main cooling system for the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building and surrounding structures, but they expect no lingering effects from the storm on NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spaceship scheduled for their first full-scale test flight around the moon in 2018. Employees returned…
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Orion capsule put under pressure in Florida
Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians prepare the Orion pressure vessel for a series of tests inside the proof pressure cell in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This capsule will fly on Exploration Mission-1 in 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett The skeleton of NASA’s next Orion capsule,…