Tag: Orion
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NASA releases Request For Information for new Orion Service Module engine
NASA has released a Request For Information for a new engine the agency will use on the Orion European Service Module beginning with EM-6 (Exploration Mission 6). The Request For Information states that the engine is needed by mid-2024 in order to support the EM-6 flight of the Space Launch System, which under the currently…
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Constructing the crewed Orion – EM-2 spacecraft deep into welding operations
Construction of the living and working area for the first crewed Orion spacecraft is well underway at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. Building on lessons learned from previous construction, Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin has already completed four of the seven welds necessary to assemble the crew module pressure vessel. Current schedules call…
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NASA evaluates EM-2 launch options for Deep Space Gateway PPE
While NASA engages spacecraft industry help in studying concepts for design, development, test, and evaluation of the Power Propulsion Element (PPE), it is also studying where the anchor component of the proposed Deep Space Gateway (DSG) would orbit the Moon and how it would get there when launched as a part of Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2).…
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NASA expects first Space Launch System flight to slip into 2020
Artist’s illustration of the Space Launch System on launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA The maiden unpiloted flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, a heavy-lift human-rated rocket and one of the agency’s core programs, will likely not be ready for takeoff until 2020, officials said recently. NASA officials until…
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Orion spacecraft enjoying calmer seas ahead of All-Hands review
Preparations involving the Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) Orion are enjoying a relatively trouble-free processing flow at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Milestones are being reached on all of the crew module elements, ahead of an All-Hands review that will take place in both the US and Italy. The only issue reported of late related to bracket…
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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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SLS EM-1 & -2 launch dates realign; EM-3 gains notional mission outline
Following a series of issues over the last year with the Core Stage for the first flight of the Space Launch System rocket, the launch dates for both the EM-1 and EM-2 flights are beginning to align, with EM-1 now targeting No Earlier Than 15 December 2019 and EM-2 following on 1 June 2022. Additionally,…
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Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Orion engineers win a Silver Snoopy and other NASA accolades
Aerojet Rocketdyne engineer Erica Raine shows off her Silver Snoopy pin. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) REDMOND, Wash. — One of NASA’s most celebrated awards was handed out today, but it didn’t go to an astronaut. Instead, it was an astronaut who was doing the handing out. The Silver Snoopy Award winner was the one holding…
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Piecing together NASA’s crewed Deep Space spacecraft
The first Orion spacecraft that will be capable of transporting NASA astronauts into deep space is now being constructed. Although it won’t launch until 2022 at the earliest, the Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2) Orion structural pieces are being constructed and readied at AMRO in California ahead of a trip to the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in…
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Orion ESM begins hot fire testing at White Sands
The Orion European Service Module (ESM) Propulsion Qualification Module (PQM) is in the opening phases of testing – including hot firings – at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Bolted to a test stand, the PQM is being taken through a series of test campaigns by a team of personnel from prime contractor…