Tag: NASA
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SLS engineering tests to accompany pre-launch checkouts for Artemis 1
The launch campaign for NASA’s Artemis 1 test flight will be punctuated by critical and unique tests to support both pre-launch checkouts of this first-flight vehicle and long-term design objectives. Launch preparations are progressing towards the first power-up of the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will allow the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS)…
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Flight Readiness Review gives green light for Starliner OFT-2
NASA and Boeing have finished the agency Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. OFT-2 will demonstrate the changes made to the Starliner spacecraft following the first OFT mission, which was conducted in December 2019. Flight Readiness Review OFT-2 is the third flight of the Boeing…
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Boeing working on multiple Cores, first EUS hardware for Artemis missions 2-4
In addition to supporting the upcoming first launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the uncrewed Artemis 1 lunar test flight, Stages prime contractor Boeing is lining up the rockets that will support following missions. That work, taking place at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, is now expanding to…
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Boeing working on multiple Cores, first EUS hardware for Artemis missions 2-4
In addition to supporting the upcoming first launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the uncrewed Artemis 1 lunar test flight, Stages prime contractor Boeing is lining up the rockets that will support following missions. That work, taking place at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, is now expanding to…
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Hubble returns to science operations on backup payload computer
NASA teams have successfully resurrected the iconic Hubble Space Telescope after it first experienced problems with an onboard computer on June 13 and suspended all science operations. The telescope is now fully operational and the switch to the backup hardware — which included powering on the backup payload computer — was performed successfully on July…
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Shuttle firing room veterans preparing to help launch Artemis 1
The final mission in the Space Shuttle Program, STS-135, was launched ten years ago on July 8, 2011, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Several members of the immediate and extended launch team that gave Shuttle Atlantis and her four-person crew a final space send-off gathered again on the tenth anniversary of the STS-135…
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USNC-Tech and Blue Origin win a contract for nuclear thermal propulsion design
An artist’s conception shows a spacecraft with a nuclear thermal propulsion system. (NASA Illustration) Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies and its partners are among three teams winning $5 million contracts from NASA and the Department of Energy to develop reactor designs for space-based nuclear thermal propulsion systems. USNC-Tech’s partners include its parent company, Ultra Safe…
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NASA, Northrop Grumman designing new BOLE SRB for SLS Block 2 vehicle
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and booster element prime contractor Northrop Grumman are developing an upgrade to the current Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The SLS Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) program is in the detailed design phase prior to firing its first ground-test development motor in 2024, followed by a preliminary design review…
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Artemis 1 ICPS stage from ULA added to SLS stack
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime launch processing contractor Jacobs hoisted the in-space stage for the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and placed it on top of the stack, that is resting on Mobile Launcher-1, on July…
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Ten years on, Northrop Grumman reflects on changes to Solid Rocket Motors from Shuttle to SLS era
Ten years ago, on 8 July 2011, two, four-segment Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) came to life on LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, propelling the orbiter Atlantis and her four person crew upwards toward space on the 135th and final Space Shuttle mission. It marked the 269th and 270th flight firings of an SRB for…