Tag: SLS
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Navigating the twists and turns steering SLS Development
This year’s decision to increase and extend use of the initial “Block 1” operating configuration of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster also impacts the space agency’s near-term plans for evolution of the launch vehicle’s design. The Congressional commitment to a second Mobile Launcher for SLS, along with the ability of SLS Block 1 to…
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Development engine continues RS-25 ground testing
The RS-25 engine test team at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi ran the next hot-fire test in the A-1 test stand on Tuesday afternoon. The third test-firing in a series of nine continues the evaluation of engine components built by prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne using modern, updated manufacturing techniques aimed at reducing the cost…
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NASA updates Lunar Gateway plans
NASA management updated the agency’s human exploration plans for the 2020s to the NASA Advisory Council’s (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Committee last month at the Ames Research Center in California. The focus of the evolving plans for the next decade is launch, assembly, and operations of a human-tended space station in high lunar…
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SLS ML completes 39B testing rolls back to the VAB
The Space Launch System (SLS) Mobile Launcher (ML) has conducted a major milestone, as it rolled to Pad 39B atop Crawler Transporter -2 (CT-2). Engineers are now testing the huge structure at the “clean pad” before rolling back – now set for this coming weekend – to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for one year’s…
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Boeing, NASA managing SLS Core Stage hardware traffic ahead of first vehicle stacking
A traffic jam of NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage hardware that needs to be assembled is building at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Building (MAF) in New Orleans. Completed subsections of the first vehicle and structural test articles (STA) are lining up to be put together at the same time as structures for the second…
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Lockheed Martin readies Orion EM-2 Pressure Vessel for trip to KSC
The crew compartment for NASA’s first crewed Orion spacecraft is headed to its launch site in Florida this week after completion of structural assembly at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. Late last month Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin completed welding the crew module pressure vessel that will fly on Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2),…
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Boeing team challenges focusing SLS Engine Section work
The Boeing team is working to finish the integration of the first engine section element of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage by focusing its efforts in short-term team challenges. Boeing management recently challenged the team at Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans to complete packages of major work items within a few weeks.…
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RS-25 aborts test during production restart development hot fire – still achieves objectives
The RS-25 team at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi began the next development test series on Tuesday afternoon. Development Engine 0525 (E5025) was back in the A-1 test stand at Stennis for the first of nine tests to certify affordability changes and operational upgrades for newly-built engines that will start being delivered by prime…
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RS-25 aborts test during production restart development hot fire – still achieves objectives
The RS-25 team at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi began the next development test series on Tuesday afternoon. Development Engine 0525 (E5025) was back in the A-1 test stand at Stennis for the first of nine tests to certify affordability changes and operational upgrades for newly-built engines that will start being delivered by prime…
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Digging into the details of Orion’s EM-1 test flight
As NASA continues to analyze and refine the profile for the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) test flight, more information about the multi-week mission is beginning to be detailed. The Orion spacecraft will fly into orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth in a shakedown mission before the first crew flies in Orion on Exploration Mission-2…