SLS launches Artemis 1 mission

After years of delays, NASA’s Space Launch System lifted off for the first time Nov. 16, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a shakedown cruise around the moon. The SLS lifted off from Launch Complex 39B here at 1:47 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage, called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), separated from the core stage eight and a half minutes after liftoff. The Orion spacecraft separated from the ICPS nearly two hours after liftoff, after the stage completed a translunar injection burn. “We have a priority-one mission in play right now,” said Mike Sarafin, NASA Artemis 1 mission manager, at a post-launch briefing. He was referring to the mission’s top priority to have the Orion capsule reenter at lunar velocities at the end of the mission, something enabled by the successful launch. “We had the rocket do its job and deliver the spacecraft to the point of translunar injection.” The Orion spacecraft was “performing exactly as we intended,” he said, with the exception of a few “funnies” or minor issues. That included a glitch with a spacecraft star tracker and microswitches in a solar array that did not immediately indicate it latched into place as expected when the array deployed, but later did so. The launch took place more than 40 minutes into a two-hour window after overcoming two issues during the countdown. A little more than three hours before the opening of the launch window, NASA reported a leak in a valve in ground equipment used to replenish the core stage’s liquid hydrogen tank. The launch director dispatched a small “red crew” to the pad to tighten bolts in the valve, fixing the leak.

NASA's Space Launch System lifts off for the first time Nov. 16 on the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission. Credit: Jordan Sirokie

“Our most likely case here was that we just had some loose nuts on those valves,” said Mike Bolger, Exploration Ground Systems Program manager, at a post-launch briefing. “We sent the team out and they did a terrific job, and we got the issue resolved.”

“It was a low moment when we first saw the leak,” he added, bringing up hydrogen leaks in past launch attempts, “but really a high moment when we recognized we’d solved the problem.”

Around the time the red crew completed its work, the U.S. Space Force, which operates the Eastern Range that includes KSC, said a radar needed to track the launch had malfunctioned, a problem traced to a faulty Ethernet switch. Replacing the switch took more than an hour.

The successful launch came after two scrubbed attempts in late August and early September. The first, Aug. 29, was called off when sensors indicated one of four RS-25 core stage engines had not properly cooled down, a problem later blamed on a faulty sensor. NASA scrubbed the second, Sept. 3, after detecting a hydrogen leak during fueling of the core stage.

NASA replaced damaged seals in the liquid hydrogen line and changed tanking procedures, which it successfully tested Sept. 21. However, Hurricane Ian forced NASA to send the SLS back to the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building before making another attempt in a launch period that closed in early October.

NASA rolled the SLS back to the pad Nov. 4, then had to wait as Hurricane Nicole passed through Nov. 10. The storm caused “very minor” damage that mission managers concluded either could be repaired or was not a constraint to launch.

That damage included a caulk material called RTV that had started to come off the interface between the Orion crew capsule and its launch abort system in the aftermath of the hurricane. Sarafin said imagery showed “a couple indications” that additional material came off during flight, but that engineers were still studying the data to determine what, if anything did come off Orion during ascent.

Those earlier launch scrubs, though, were only minor setbacks for a launch vehicle whose development suffered extensive delays. The 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which instructed NASA to develop SLS, called for the vehicle to be ready by the end of 2016. Various technical issues, primarily with the rocket’s core stage, steadily pushed back the first flight of the vehicle until now.

The Artemis 1 mission will see the Orion spacecraft, without astronauts on board, go to the moon and enter a distant retrograde orbit there. Orion will remain in that orbit for five days, reaching a maximum distance from Earth of 480,500 kilometers. It will then depart the orbit and return to Earth, splashing down off the coast of San Diego, California, at 12:40 p.m. Eastern Dec. 11.

The 25-day mission is considered a “short-class” mission by NASA, versus missions of up to 42 days that Orion would have flown in two earlier launch attempts. The shorter mission will still achieve all the test objectives, but in a more compressed timeframe.

“We did proofs of concept early on to demonstrate that you can fit all the objects the program has decided they want us to accomplish into the shortest class mission,” said Emily Nelson, NASA chief flight director, in a Nov. 14 interview. “But, it’s much more of a Tetris puzzle to make sure all of those things fit in.”

Those plans are revised for each launch opportunity. “Each different launch opportunity is a new challenge in terms of when is the spacecraft in the right place to accomplish those different mission objectives,” she said.

Artemis 1 is designed to test the Orion spacecraft in cislunar space, including testing the spacecraft’s heat shield when reentering at lunar return velocities. It will be followed by Artemis 2, the first crewed Orion mission, no earlier than 2024.

SLS returns to the pad for next Artemis launch attempt

The Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft rolled back out to the launch pad Nov. 4 as the agency prepares for the third attempt to launch the vehicle on Artemis 1 mission later this month. SLS and Orion, on its mobile launch platform, arrived at Launch Complex 39B at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Nov. 4, a little more than nine hours after emerging from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The rollout was the fourth for the vehicle since March. The rollout supports NASA’s plans to conduct the next Artemis 1 launch attempt Nov. 14, with liftoff scheduled at 12:07 a.m. Eastern at the beginning of a 69-minute launch window. Two backup windows are reserved for Nov. 16 and Nov. 19. In a Nov, 3 call with reporters, Jim Free, associate administrator for exploration systems development, said managers gave the go-ahead for the rollout after reviewing weather forecasts that show the risk of a tropical storm system forming and heading towards Florida early next week. “Our engineering team thought it was an OK risk to go out tonight,” he said. Mark Burger, launch weather officer with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45, said there is only a 30% chance of the system becoming a named storm, with peak wind gusts not expected to exceed 74 kilometers per hour. “Those are well within our constraints for riding out” the storm at the pad, he said. “We’ll have impacts from that in terms of the wind, but we’re not looking at any likelihood at this point of see a strong system emerge out of this.” SLS and Orion had been in the VAB since late September, when NASA rolled back to protect the vehicle from Hurricane Ian. Before the storm forced the rollback, agency officials felt they had resolved hydrogen leak problems that scrubbed the previous launch attempt Sept. 3.

The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft emerge from the Vehicle Assembly Building to head to Launch Complex 39B for a Nov. 14 launch. Credit: Jordan Sirokie

The investigation into that leak has not turned up a single clear cause. “There’s not really a smoking gun, per se,” said Cliff Lanham, senior vehicle operations manager in NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems program. “We feel pretty confident that, through the loading procedures and controlling the pressures, we understand it much better now.”

“Our teams have continued to grow and learn about the vehicle, and we’re confident,” said Free, who added he felt they had three good opportunities to launch. “But, it’s a flight test.”

“What we’ve learned in every wet dress [rehearsal], our two launch attempts and our tanking test help build our confidence,” he said. “I don’t think we would roll out if we didn’t feel confident.”

If the vehicle does not launch by Nov. 19, there is a fourth possible launch window on Nov. 25. Beyond that, Free said NASA would likely leave the vehicle on the pad and wait until the next launch period opens in December, which would require getting waivers from the Eastern Range for the SLS flight termination system, much like what happened in September.

December also marks the deadline for the lifetime of the two solid rocket boosters. Lanham said that the boosters, which originally had a 12-month life when they were stacked in early 2021, have been certified through Dec. 9 for one booster and Dec. 14 for the other. If the vehicle doesn’t launch by then, Free said, they would do another “analysis cycle” on the boosters to see if their lives can be further extended.

Artemis 1, ispace lander set November launch dates

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission and a Japanese lander are set to launch to the moon from Florida within days of each other in November. NASA announced Oct. 12 that it has scheduled the launch of the Artemis 1 mission for Nov. 14 from the Kennedy Space Center. The launch would take place during a 69-minute window that opens at 12:07 a.m. Eastern. Backup launch windows are available Nov. 16 at 1:04 a.m. Eastern and Nov. 19 at 1:45 a.m. Eastern, each two hours long. The agency said that inspections of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after it rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building Sept. 27 found “minimal work” needed to prepare them for another launch attempt. That work includes repairing minor damage to the rocket’s thermal protection system from earlier launch attempts and tests, as well as replacing or recharging batteries for the rocket’s flight termination system. NASA expects to have the vehicle ready to roll back to Launch Complex 39B as soon as Nov. 4. NASA rolled the rocket back to the VAB to protect it from Hurricane Ian as the storm cut across Florida. That ruled out launch opportunities in late September and early October, and the rollback meant NASA could not try again during a launch period open in the latter half of October. The new launch opportunities are near the start of the following launch period. NASA is pressing ahead with those opportunities despite them being at night. Agency officials earlier suggested they preferred to launch during the day for improved tracking of the SLS on its inaugural flight, but that would have required waiting until at least Nov. 22, in the latter half of the launch period.

The HAKUTO-R M1 lander, built by ispace, undergoes final preparations in Germany for shipment to Cape Canaveral for a Falcon 9 launch Nov. 9-15. Credit: ispace

The new launch date for Artemis 1 means it is now scheduled for launch within days of a commercial lunar lander mission. Japanese company ispace announced Oct. 12 that it plans to launch its first HAKUTO-R lander on a Falcon 9 between Nov. 9 and 15 from Cape Canaveral.

The M1 lander completed testing last month at a facility in Germany and it being prepared for shipment to the launch site. The lander is carrying a variety of payloads, including a small lunar rover called Rashid developed by the United Arab Emirates.

“For me this is a milestone on the road to realizing our vision, but I am already proud of our results,” Takeshi Hakamada, chief executive of ispace, said in a statement. “I look forward to watching the launch alongside all of our employees and those who have supported us.”

That schedule puts ispace ahead of two American companies also preparing lunar landers for launch. Both Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines had planned to launch their first lander missions before the end of the year, carrying payloads that included those provided by NASA though its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. However, Intuitive Machines said over the summer that the Falcon 9 launch of its IM-1 mission would slip to early 2023.

Astrobotic, flying on the inaugural mission of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur, had been holding a 2022 launch until Oct. 10, when ULA announced it was delaying the launch to the first quarter of 2023 to give Astrobotic more time to complete its lander. It was not clear that Vulcan itself would be ready to launch this year because of delays in the delivery of the BE-4 engines that power its first stage.

In an Oct. 10 statement, John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said his company would release more details about its launch plans in the near future, but noted the lander has recently returned to the company’s Pittsburgh headquarters after completing pressure testing of its propulsion system.

“We are now proceeding with final spacecraft assembly which includes installation of the solar panel along with avionics, sensors, communications equipment and payloads, which are already tested and integrated with their corresponding decks,” he said. “As Peregrine begins its journey to the Moon in early 2023, it will be an incredible accomplishment for Astrobotic, the city of Pittsburgh, and the space industry as a whole.”

Tokyo-based ispace is not directly a part of the CLPS program. However, its U.S. office is part of a team led by Draper that won a CLPS award in July for a lander mission to the far side of the moon scheduled for launch in 2025.

Second Artemis 1 launch attempt scrubbed

NASA called off a second attempt to conduct the inaugural launch of the Space Launch System Sept. 3 after failing to resolve a liquid hydrogen leak during fueling of the rocket, potentially delaying the mission until October. NASA scrubbed the launch, which had been scheduled for a two-hour window that opened at 2:17 p.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 39B here, three hours before the window opened. Mission managers concluded that they had run out of time to fix a liquid hydrogen leak detected hours earlier. Controllers noticed a leak in a quick-disconnect fitting for a liquid hydrogen line into the core stage of the SLS shortly after fueling of the core stage started. Engineers made several attempts to reseat the fitting, first by allowing it to warm up and then start flowing liquid hydrogen into it again, believing the temperature change would seal it into place again. It did not work. A second technique involved stopping hydrogen flow and closing a valve, then using pressure from helium in ground systems to force the fitting back into place. That also did not work, as did a second attempt to warm and then cool the fitting. The leak was a large one, said Mike Sarafin, NASA  Artemis mission manager, exceeding a concentration limit of 4%, set by flammability risks, by a factor of two or three. The leak was much larger than one detected in the first launch attempt Monday, which was not a constraint for launch. “In terms of the leak that we saw on Monday, it was a manageable leak. This was not a manageable leak,” he said at a briefing several hours after the scrub.

Controllers called off a second attempt to launch the SLS Sept. 3 after failing to fix a liquid hydrogen leak detected shortly after fueling started. Caption: NASA/Joel Kowsky

One possible cause of the leak, he said, was an “inadvertent overpressurization” of the liquid hydrogen line just before fuel loading started, possibly caused by human error. That could have damaged the seal of the quick-disconnect fitting, but Sarafin added it was too soon to know.

Officials ruled out attempting a launch in the remaining days of the current launch period, called launch period 25 by NASA and which closes Sept. 6. “Launch period 25 is definitely off the table,” said Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development.

The next two opportunities, launch periods 26 and 27, run from Sept. 20 to Oct. 4 and from Oct. 17 to 31, respectively. “Launch periods 26 and 27 will really depend on the options that the team comes back with” early next week, he said.

Those options largely revolve around whether the quick-disconnect fitting can be repaired on the pad or if the work needs to be done back in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). An on-pad repair offers the possibility of completing the work sooner and to test the repairs using the pad’s liquid hydrogen, which is not an option in the VAB.

However, the rocket’s flight termination system (FTS) is certified only through the current launch window. NASA would need to seek an extension from the U.S. Space Force, which operates the Eastern Range, if it wants to keep the vehicle on the pad and allow for a launch as soon as late September. If the FTS certification is not extended, the vehicle would have to roll back to the VAB to check and replace its batteries.

“We don’t have an FTS waiver right now beyond 25 days. Until we have that, we have to roll back,” Free said. “We’ll work with the range to try and get that.”

Other issues about a stay on the pad include the effects of an extended stay on the pad on the Orion spacecraft. Tropical weather could also require the rocket to roll back regardless of any technical constraints.

“We need to look at exactly what work we need to do,” Sarafin said. “It’s a little bit early to say as to what the right path forward is.”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson reiterated at the briefing that the agency would not attempt to launch Artemis 1 until they feel they are ready. He added he has not noticed any pressure, either from within the agency or from the White House or Congress, to launch the mission.

“If I knew about it, I would try to stop it,” he said. “But we have felt no pressure whatsoever.”

Artemis 1 passes flight readiness review

An uncrewed test of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft moved a step closer to launch with the completion of a flight readiness review Aug. 22. NASA officials said late Aug. 22 that the review confirmed plans for a launch of the Artemis 1 mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B as soon as 8:33 a.m. Eastern Aug. 29, at the beginning of a two-hour window. A second two-hour window is available Sept. 2, and a 90-minute window Sept. 5. “We had no exceptions today. We actually had no actions coming out of the review and we had no dissenting opinions,” Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, said at a briefing after the review. There is still some “open work” to do on the SLS and Orion spacecraft before launch, said Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager at NASA. Some of that is planned work to prepare the vehicles for launch, “largely things that we have a path to close before we go fly.” One issue that won’t be checked until the final stages of the countdown is a step called the “hydrogen kickstart” to thermally condition the engines. That could not be tested during the series of wet dress rehearsals of the vehicle in April and June because a leak in a hydrogen bleed line detected in the final rehearsal in June. Sarafin and Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director, said there is a plan to test that step during a “quiescent” phase in the countdown a few hours before launch once the core stage’s liquid hydrogen tank is filled. “We believe that we have taken all the actions to correct that problem,” Blackwell-Thompson said, but won’t know for certain until the test at the pad.

The first launch of the Space Launch System remains on schedule for as soon as Aug. 29 after the Artemis 1 mission passed its flight readiness review Aug. 22. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

“If we do not successfully demonstrate that,” Sarafin said, “we are not going to launch that day.”

A launch on Aug. 29 would start what is scheduled to be a 42-day mission for the Orion spacecraft. The SLS’s upper stage will place the spacecraft on a trajectory to the moon, called translunar injection (TLI), less than two hours after liftoff. Orion will fly by the moon five days later, maneuvering into a distant retrograde orbit around the moon. After spending two weeks in that orbit, the spacecraft will maneuver back to the moon, performing another powered flyby to bring it back to Earth, splashing down off coast of San Diego, California Oct. 10.

The six-week mission is a stress test of sorts of the spacecraft. Howard Hu, NASA Orion program manager, noted that Orion is designed to support a four-person crew for three weeks. “This mission allows us to push a lot of capability,” he said. “The long-class mission we’re talking about, 42 days, will allow us to stress a lot of systems.”

“Going 42 days puts a lot more stress on those systems, plus the environment it’s in — longer exposure to radiation, longer exposure to micrometeoroid hits — means we’re going to learn a lot from this test flight,” said Bob Cabana, NASA associate administrator. “We’re stressing it beyond what it is designed for and we’ll see what we learn.”

Cabana and others at the briefing emphasized that Artemis 1 was a test flight. “It’s not without risk,” he said. That includes scenarios, he said, where Orion is not able to complete the planned mission and returns early.

NASA, though, will push to at least send Orion towards the moon to enable the mission’s top objective, testing the spacecraft’s heat shield at lunar reentry velocities of about 40,000 kilometers per hour. That includes pressing ahead with TLI even if there are issues with the spacecraft, like a solar panel that doesn’t properly deploy immediately after launch.

“We have a lean-forward strategy to get our high-priority objective, which is to demonstrate the heat shield at lunar reentry conditions,” said Sarafin. “We’re going to press to the point of translunar injection unless we’re sure we’re going to lose the vehicle.”

“We would be go on this flight for conditions that we would normally be no-go for on a crewed flight in the interest of crew safety, because we want to buy down risk,” he added.

NASA audit reveals massive overruns in SLS mobile launch platform

A new mobile launch platform that Bechtel is building for NASA will cost up to four times as much as originally planned and could push back the first launch of an upgraded version of the Space Launch System to the late 2020s, a NASA audit concluded. The audit by NASA’s Office of Inspector General, published June 9, was sharply critical of both Bechtel and, to a lesser extent, NASA for cost overruns and delays in work on Mobile Launcher (ML) 2, which will be used for launches of the Block 1B version of the SLS starting with the Artemis 4 mission. The larger Block 1B cannot be accommodated on the existing mobile launch platform for SLS. NASA awarded Bechtel a $383 million cost-plus contract in June 2019 to both design and build ML-2 for delivery to NASA in March 2023. That contract grew to $460.3 million by March because of “government-driven changes” that also pushed back delivery of the platform to January 2024. The project has since suffered significant overruns and delays, though, revealed in the audit. As of February, Bechtel’s estimate of the cost at completion of ML-2 has increased to $960.1 million, or 2.5 times the original contract value. That estimate projects completing ML-2 in October 2025, after which more than a year of testing and other preparations is expected before it is ready for the Artemis 4 launch.

An illustration of the Mobile Launcher (ML) 2, designed to accommodate the Block 1B version of SLS. A NASA audit found serious cost overruns and schedule delays in the development of ML-2 by Bechtel. Credit: NASA/David Zeiters

However, the audit noted that a joint confidence level analysis, which NASA uses to estimate the probability of completing a project at a set cost and schedule, projected only a 3.9% chance of completing ML-2 at the revised budget and schedule. Using the 70% confidence level that is the NASA standard for project estimates, an independent review team commissioned by the Kennedy Space Center concluded ML-2 would cost nearly $1.5 billion and not be delivered until November 2027. That would push the launch of Artemis 4, tentatively projected for 2027, to no earlier than the end of 2028.

The audit placed much of the blame for the overruns on Bechtel. More than 70% of the cost increase and 60% of the schedule delay “is related to poor contractor performance,” the audit stated.

“According to both NASA and Bechtel management, Bechtel underestimated the overall scope and complexity of designing and building the ML-2 at the onset of the project,” the report stated, significantly underestimating costs for equipment and supplies as well as labor hours. Bechtel also struggled with the weight of ML-2, with the original target weight of about 5.4 million kilograms exceeded by more than 400,000 kilograms as of January.

NASA also contributed to a lesser extent, the audit found. A lack of finalized requirements for the Exploration Upper Stage, used by the SLS Block 1B, contributed to some of the initial cost growth. NASA also “struggled to motivate and improve Bechtel’s performance using the award fee structure,” giving Bechtel nearly half of the $16.8 million in award fees it was eligible for through September 2021 despite problems with ML-2’s development.

Bechtel took issue with the audit’s conclusions. “Unfortunately, the Inspector General’s report does not provide a complete picture of what led to the current situation, and we strongly disagree with the report’s overarching conclusions on the primary causes of the cost increases,” a Bechtel spokesperson said in a statement to SpaceNews. The company had previously declined to comment on the project.

The company argued the audit “does not appreciate the significance of the impacts of necessary design changes” needed to support SLS Block 1B or the effects of the pandemic. It also claimed that the audit “wrongly attributes significant cost increases to poor project performance, including management of the mobile launcher weight,” which the company says it has resolved with NASA. The audit stated that NASA found additional margin in the crawler-transporter that carries the mobile launch platform, increasing its maximum capacity to just above the revised ML-2 weight.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed his frustration with ML-2 at a Senate hearing May 3. “Because Bechtel underbid on a cost-plus contract in order to, what appears, to get it,” he said, “they couldn’t perform. And NASA is stuck.”

Nelson said at the hearing that while he met with the chief executive of Bechtel, there was little the agency could do about the costs because of the nature of the cost-plus contract. “There’s no way, under the contract, since it’s a cost-plus contract, that we can do anything but eat it,” he said. “And that’s not right.”

Nelson used the agency’s experience with ML-2 to advocate for greater use of fixed-price contracts. The audit stated that NASA is investigating what parts of the ML-2 contract can be converted to a fixed-price structure.

“At this stage, it is too early to tell what impact these efforts will have on the ML-2 project’s cost and schedule,” the audit stated of overall recovery efforts for the contract. “In particular, while converting portions of the ML-2 contract to a fixed-price would reduce NASA’s risk and increase transparency, it is unclear whether Bechtel would agree to this approach nor is it clear if NASA could afford the high costs associated with this contract structure.”

NASA publishes Artemis plan to return Americans to Moon in 2024

Following a series of critical contract awards and hardware milestones, NASA has shared an update on its Artemis program, including the latest Phase 1 plans to land the first woman and the next man on the surface of the Moon in 2024. In the 18 months since NASA accepted a bold challenge to accelerate its exploration plans by more than four years and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade, the agency has continued to gain momentum toward sending humans to the Moon again for the first time since the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972. "With bipartisan support from Congress, our 21st century push to the Moon is well within America's reach," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "As we've solidified more of our exploration plans in recent months, we've continued to refine our budget and architecture. We're going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for a new a generation of explorers. As we build up a sustainable presence, we're also building momentum toward those first human steps on the Red Planet." In its formal plan, NASA captures Artemis progress to date, identifying the key science, technology and human missions, as well as the commercial and international partnerships that will ensure we continue to lead in exploration and achieve our ambitious goal to land astronauts on the Moon. The agency's powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), and the Orion spacecraft are closer than ever to their first integrated launch. The spacecraft is complete while the core stage and its attached four engines are undergoing a final series of tests that will culminate in a critical hot fire test this fall.

Early Artemis Missions
Following a successful hot fire test, the core stage will be shipped to the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for integration with the spacecraft. NASA will launch an SLS and an Orion together on two flight tests around the Moon to check performance, life support, and communication capabilities. The first mission - known as Artemis I - is on track for 2021 without astronauts, and Artemis II will fly with crew in 2023.

In the Phase 1 plan, NASA notes additional details about conducting a new test during the Artemis II mission - a proximity operations demonstration. Shortly after Orion separates from the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, astronauts will manually pilot Orion as they approach and back away from the stage.

This demonstration will assess Orion's handling qualities and related hardware and software to provide performance data and operational experience that cannot be readily gained on the ground in preparation for rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking, as well as undocking operations in lunar orbit beginning on Artemis III.

While preparing for and carrying out these flight test missions, NASA already will be back on the Moon robotically - using commercial delivery services to send dozens of new science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon twice per year beginning in 2021.

In 2024, Artemis III will be humanity's return to the surface of the Moon. After launching on SLS, astronauts will travel about 240,000 miles to lunar orbit aboard Orion, at which point they will directly board one of the new commercial human landing systems, or dock to the Gateway to inspect it and gather supplies before boarding the landing system for their expedition to the surface.

Wearing modern spacesuits that allow for greater flexibility and movement than those of their Apollo predecessors, astronauts will collect samples and conduct a range of science experiments over the course of nearly seven days. Using the lander, they will return to lunar orbit before ultimately heading home to Earth aboard Orion.

Work is progressing rapidly on the Gateway. NASA will integrate the first two components to launch - the power and propulsion element and the habitation and logistics outpost - in 2023. This foundation for the Gateway will be able to operate autonomously, conducting remote science experiments when astronauts are not aboard. NASA has selected the first two science instrument suites to conduct space weather investigations in lunar orbit before crew visits.

While NASA has not made a final decision to use the Gateway for Artemis III, Artemis IV and beyond will send crew aboard Orion to dock to the Gateway, where two crew members can stay aboard the spaceship in orbit while two go to the surface. Over time, the outpost will evolve, with new modules added by international partners, allowing crew members to conduct increasingly longer lunar missions.

As detailed in the agency's concept for surface sustainability earlier this year, an incremental buildup of infrastructure on the surface will follow later this decade, allowing for longer surface expeditions with more crew. That concept calls for an Artemis Base Camp that would include new rovers, power systems, habitats, and more on the surface for long-term exploration of the Moon.

Throughout the Artemis program, robots and humans will search for, and potentially extract, resources such as water that can be converted into other usable resources, including oxygen and fuel. By fine-tuning precision landing technologies as well as developing new mobility capabilities, astronauts will travel farther distances and explore new regions of the Moon.

Artemis I progresses toward launch

The flight hardware has been built, the launch facilities are ready, and NASA and its industry partners are checking off final milestones for the launch that will put America on the path to landing the first woman and next man on the Moon. The Artemis I mission - the culmination of work by people across the country in support of the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion and Exploration Ground System (EGS) programs - will preserve the nation's leadership in human space exploration and set the U.S. on a new journey to explore deep space. "Thanks to the hard work of women and men across our country, NASA's deep space exploration system is the Artemis program's foundation. With their contributions, America leads in human exploration at the Moon and it will be the same for Mars," said NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard. "The success of the Artemis program depends on our suppliers, and we're confident they'll rise to the challenge of our 2024 deadline." The Artemis I team includes five prime contractors and hundreds of suppliers from all 50 states, all of which are committed to the safe and successful launch of the most powerful rocket ever built and the only capsule capable of transporting and sustaining a crew in deep space, as well as successful mission execution and safe return of the lunar orbit mission. Representatives from this team of suppliers will meet in Washington, D.C. this week to share the latest program progress with legislators and highlight the work that is done in their respective states.

The five major industry players that are building and preparing to launch the SLS and Orion spacecraft for NASA's crewed exploration missions include:

+ Aerojet Rocketdyne, which provides the reliable, flight-proven RS-25 and RL10 engines for the core and upper stage that carry SLS and Orion into orbit and on to deep space. It also provides the jettison motor for Orion's Launch Abort System and 21 thrusters on the Orion crew and service modules.

Boeing, which designed, developed, built and is now testing the rocket's massive core stage and avionics, having completed the upper stage last year.

Jacobs, which has modernized and upgraded ground systems and launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, and is preparing to integrate and process the SLS and Orion flight hardware for launch.

Lockheed Martin, which has designed and is building the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts out to the Moon and beyond.

Northrop Grumman, which provides the rocket boosters that supply more than 75% of initial required thrust during the first two minutes of flight, as well as the attitude control motor and abort motor for Orion's Launch Abort System.

Recent SLS milestones include production completion of the Artemis I core stage flight hardware for first flight, now at Stennis Space Center for its final major test, called Green Run; delivery of booster aft exit cones to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and completion of booster design certification review and first five-segment booster flight set; completion of the RS-25 engine hot-fire series for the first four SLS flights and attaching the RS-25s to the first core stage for testing. In addition, NASA is completing avionics systems at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center that will control launch and guidance systems for the rocket.

The Artemis I Orion spacecraft is complete and was shipped to NASA's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, in late November for environmental testing to ensure that it can withstand the harsh environment of space on its journey around the Moon and back. In addition, Orion's full launch abort system was successfully tested this past July during a flight test called Ascent Abort-2 in Florida.

At KSC, the EGS team recently completed verification and validation of the modified mobile launcher and Launch Pad 39B systems. The team also received the massive SLS Core Stage Pathfinder at KSC, and conducted a month-long series of exercises in the Vehicle Assembly Building, during which they practiced handling and lifting of the full-scale mockup hardware. In the KSC Launch Control Center, the team is using the upgraded launch control system to complete SLS ground systems checkout and launch team training in the new control room environment.

Upcoming 2020 milestones for launch readiness will see these following programs integrated at KSC:

The SLS rocket booster segments will be delivered to KSC and, along with the booster forward and aft assemblies, will be integrated in the Vehicle Assembly Building.

The core stage and integrated RS-25 engines will complete Green Run testing at Stennis, and refurbishment, before being shipped to KSC for mating with the boosters.

The Orion Artemis I crew and service module will return from Plum Brook Station for final testing and integration prior to launch.

In addition to receiving SLS and Orion hardware for processing and stacking, the EGS team will conduct the Underway Recovery Test-8 in the Pacific Ocean in March, to validate the recovery procedures and operational timelines during a full mission rehearsal of Orion capsule recovery after splashdown.

Artemis I will be the first integrated flight test of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission will send Orion into a lunar distant retrograde orbit - a wide orbit around the Moon that is farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled. The uncrewed mission will last more than 20 days and will validate the design and safety of Orion and SLS for human exploration missions to follow.

NASA rings in busy new year in Florida to prepare for Artemis Missions

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will have a busy year preparing facilities, ground support equipment and space hardware for the launch of Artemis I, the first uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. In 2020, Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) activities will ramp up as launch hardware arrives and teams put systems in place for Artemis I and II missions. Launch countdown simulations will continue to ramp up in 2020 to train and certify the launch control team for Artemis missions. The types of simulations will build on one another and will walk through the final portions of the launch countdown sequence, called the terminal countdown. Integrated simulations will tie in all NASA centers working the mission to ensure all members of the team are ready to work together, including Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the SLS Engineering Support Center at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Simulations will begin at the end of January and will occur up through one week before launch, with an average of one training exercise each month. Much of the work in 2020 will be to complete a punch list of detail work inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This includes cleaning the platforms and making minor repairs to any platform hardware that will be near flight hardware as the facility prepares for arrival of SLS components and stacking operations. "We are at a very significant point in NASA's Artemis mission," said Mike Bolger, program manager of EGS. "The EGS team has finished mobile launcher testing at the launch pad and will finish testing at the VAB in January. At that point, all of the launch infrastructure will be tested and ready for operations."

Launch Complex 39B
Teams will continue work on a new emergency egress system for Pad 39B where flight or ground crew could board a basket with a braking system at the crew access level of the mobile launcher. The crew would ride the basket down a cable and come to a stop near a bunker to the west of the pad surface, providing quick escape in the unlikely event of an emergency. The design phase began in 2019 and construction will be complete in time to support crewed Artemis missions.

The pad is currently getting a liquid hydrogen upgrade. The project involves the integration of a new 1.4 million gallon, liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage sphere into the existing Launch Complex 39B system. The new LH2 sphere will work with the current LH2 sphere to supply LH2 for Artemis II and beyond. The larger tank will allow NASA to attempt SLS launches on three consecutive days, instead of opportunities two out of three days, in the event of a scrub. The newer technology reduces liquid hydrogen burn-off, allowing more launch attempts before having to refill the larger tank. Construction began in 2019 and will be complete prior to Artemis II.

Orion Underway Recovery Test 8
The integrated recovery team of NASA, EGS, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy, along with additional contractor support, will head out to sea off the coast of California in March to conduct the eighth Underway Recovery Test. Using a Navy ship with a well deck and several small boats, the primary objective is to validate Orion recovery operations for Artemis I - including procedures and timelines, and practicing different scenarios.

Orion Spacecraft
This spring, the Orion spacecraft for Artemis I will return from NASA's unique test facility at Plum Brook Station in Ohio, where it is currently undergoing environmental testing inside the vacuum chamber that simulates the harsh environment of space.

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O and C) Building at Kennedy, technicians will install the spacecraft's solar array wings before performing final checkouts. EGS will begin Orion ground processing and stacking activities later in the year.

The team will process and fuel Orion in the Multi-Purpose Processing Facility then transfer it over to the Launch Abort System Facility where engineers will attach the launch abort system. Orion will then roll out to the VAB for inspections before stacking Orion on top of the SLS rocket.

In its early processing stages, the Artemis II crew module milestones inside the O and C include propulsion tank installation, a pressure test and subsystems installations in the spring. The initial power-on of the crew module will occur in early fall. The heat shield that will protect the first crewed mission of Orion will be completed and installed by the end of the year. Processing and testing of the crew module adapter - the ring that connects to the European Service Module - for Artemis II will happen in the first half of the year prior to the arrival of the European Service Module in the fall.

Space Launch System
Training activities with pathfinders, or full-scale replicas, of the SLS core stage and booster segments occurred in 2019, and more training with various pathfinder segments and hardware will continue. In 2020, training will involve stacking inert booster segments on the mobile launcher in the VAB.

Hardware for SLS will continue to arrive for processing and integration in various Kennedy facilities. This year all ten of the solid propellant booster segments will arrive by train from their Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility in Promontory, Utah.

The launch vehicle stage adapter, which will connect the SLS core stage to the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, will arrive by barge. The booster aft skirts - which contain the thrust vector control system that steers the rocket - will trek from the Booster Fabrication Facility to the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility where they will be attached to the aft exit cones.

The exit cones are attached to the bottommost part of each of the twin boosters to provide extra thrust to the boosters and protect the aft skirts from the thermal environment during launch.

The core stage of the SLS rocket will undergo a Green Run test campaign over several months in the B-2 test stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Following Green Run completion, the 225,000-pound core stage will leave Stennis and arrive at Kennedy on the Pegasus barge. The core stage and solid rocket boosters will then be integrated inside the VAB.

Mobile Launcher 2
In 2019, NASA awarded a contract for Mobile Launcher 2 to Bechtel National Inc. of Reston, Virginia. The ground structure that will be used to assemble, process and launch the second and more powerful configuration of the SLS rocket, called Block 1B, is in its early stages of design and development and will be ready for Artemis IV.

Artemis I will be the first in a series of increasingly challenging missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars. In 2020, the mission will truly begin to take shape as hardware arrives and stacking operations begin inside the VAB.

"The operations team is writing procedures, training, and preparing for flight hardware processing," Bolger said. "When the SLS and Orion are turned over to EGS later this year, Kennedy will be ready!"

Future Artemis missions will establish a sustainable presence at the Moon for decades to come, and Kennedy teams will move forward in 2020 to build the infrastructure and make those missions possible.

NASA attaches first of 4 RS-25 engines to Artemis I rocket stage

Engineers and technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have structurally mated the first of four RS-25 engines to the core stage for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will help power the first Artemis mission to the Moon. Integration of the RS-25 engines to the recently completed core stage structure is a collaborative, multistep process for NASA and its partners Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, the RS-25 engines lead contractor. To complete the installation, the technicians will now integrate the propulsion and electrical systems. The installation process will be repeated for each of the four RS-25 engines. The four RS-25 engines used for Artemis I were delivered to Michoud from Aerojet Rocketdyne's facility at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in June. The engines, located at the bottom of the core stage in a square pattern, are fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. During launch and flight, the four engines will fire nonstop for 8.5 minutes, emitting hot gases from each nozzle 13 times faster than the speed of sound. The completed core stage with all four engines attached will be the largest rocket stage NASA has built since the Saturn V stages for the Apollo Program.

NASA is working to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. SLS is part of NASA's backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon on a single mission.

Kentucky companies give NASA Artemis missions a boost

When American astronauts set foot on the Moon's surface in 2024, men and women across Kentucky can say they helped to make it possible. NASA recognized three Kentucky businesses - Parker Hannifin Corp., American Synthetic Rubber Co., a Michelin company; and Eckart America Corp. - in Lexington and Louisville Sept. 18-19 for their continued support in supplying critical elements and tools for the twin solid rocket boosters of NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. "It is exciting to watch as NASA leads this new era of space exploration," said Kentucky Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton. "I am proud the three businesses we're recognizing today play key roles in our nation's return to the Moon and beyond. Every worker who helps produce the seals, polymers, pigments and parts for NASA's new rocket systems should be proud of their contribution. Kentucky's aerospace and aviation industry stands ready to assist as NASA pushes the boundaries of research, exploration and innovation." Working with Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, each of the suppliers has played a role in manufacturing and producing the rocket's boosters that will be used for the Artemis missions. 

+ American Synthetic Rubber Co. is the only manufacturer in the United States of a unique liquid polymer that serves as the binder, or glue, in the SLS propellant that powers the rocket boosters. The polymer enhances the strength of the propellant while it is under pressure, helping the propellant withstand ignition forces.

+ Eckart produces the aluminum powder used in the SLS propellant.

+ Parker Hannifin's O-ring and Engineered Seals Division provides elastomer sealing that is a key component for the SLS boosters as well as the Mars 2020 Rover, which will search for signs of habitable conditions on Mars.

American Synthetic Rubber Co. and Parker Hannifin were each presented with the Space Launch System Program Manager's Commendation award by retired NASA astronaut Col. William "Bill" McArthur on behalf of the agency. NASA and Northrop Grumman personnel toured each of the facilities to meet the men and women helping to build the boosters for the SLS rocket.

"NASA and Northrop Grumman earlier this year completed casting all 10 of the booster motor segments for both the first and second Artemis lunar missions," said Mark Olsen of Northrop Grumman. "Men and women here in Kentucky and across the U.S. are providing vital services to build the SLS rocket as efficiently as possible."

Based on the booster design from NASA's Space Shuttle Program, the five-segment SLS booster is the largest, most powerful solid propellant booster ever built for flight. Each booster produces more than 3.6 million pounds of thrust to send SLS and NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon. Together, the twin boosters produce more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch.

American Synthetic Rubber Co., Parker Hannifin and Eckart supplied elements for the production of the boosters during the space shuttle program.

"The boosters for SLS were adapted from the space shuttle booster with the addition of a fifth propellant segment," said Hank Miller, SLS booster element deputy manager. "That additional motor segment enables the SLS to lift more weight and travel farther than the shuttle."

Sending American astronauts to the Moon by 2024 takes power, precision and the combined efforts from companies across the United States. More than 3,800 businesses in all 50 states support the production of SLS and Orion for the Artemis lunar missions.

Kentucky is a leader in America's aerospace industry, ranking second as the top aerospace export state in the country. With more than 600 Kentucky companies in the aerospace and defense business, the state had more than $12 billion in aerospace and defense exports in 2018. Additionally, NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik and Terri Wilcutt, the agency's chief of safety and mission assurance and former space shuttle pilot, are from Kentucky.

Orion Test Article on the Move

Engineers recently lifted and moved a full-scale test version of the 13-ton Orion service module in preparation for upcoming pyroshock tests at NASA Glenn's Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. During the tests, engineers will fire pyrotechnics to simulate the shocks the service module will experience as Orion separates from the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The service module is an essential part of the spacecraft. It will propel, power and cool Orion in addition to providing air and water for the crew. In this time-lapse video, the Plum Brook team removes the test article from the world's most powerful spacecraft vibration table and transports it into the assembly high bay area in Plum Brook's Space Environments Complex. Prior to the move, the test article passed a series of vibration tests to verify that it can withstand the vibrations as it launches and travels into space. A thousand sensors collected data on Orion's service module as it was shaken on a vibration table. This testing simulated how Orion's structure flexed and will stand up to 35 tons of spacecraft weight during a launch. Orion's first flight atop SLS, known as Artemis 1, is targeted to launch in 2020. It will venture tens of thousands of miles beyond the moon. The test article was provided by ESA (European Space Agency) and built by Airbus Defence and Space.

NASA prepares for green run testing, practices lifting SLS Core Stage

NASA cleared a milestone in preparation for Green Run testing of its Space Launch System (SLS) core stage with an Aug. 23/24 lift and installation of the core stage pathfinder simulator onto the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. The lift and installation of the core stage pathfinder - a size and weight replica of the SLS core stage - is helping teams at Stennis prepare for the Green Run test series. For this test of the new core stage, Stennis will lift the flight core stage for Artemis 1, the first SLS mission into the stand. SLS and the new Orion spacecraft being built are the foundation for NASA's Artemis Program, which will send the first woman and next man to walk on the Moon by 2024. Stennis modified the B-2 Test Stand for the core stage Green Run testing. The procedure involved lifting the core stage pathfinder from its horizontal position on the B-2 Test Stand tarmac with the facility boom crane line attached to the forward end and a ground crane line attached to the aft end. The pathfinder then was "broken over" into a vertical position. Once the ground crane line was disconnected, the core stage pathfinder was lifted into place by the stand boom crane. This "fit test" validated auxiliary lift equipment, procedures, and verified that stand modifications and preparations are in place and prepared for delivery and testing of the SLS core stage flight hardware. To prepare for the test, Stennis modified or upgraded every major area and system of the test stand, as well as the high-pressure industrial water system and high-pressure gas facility that support test operations.

NASA is building the SLS flight core stage at its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and is scheduled for transport to Stennis by the end of the year. The stage recently completed a critical review in preparation for adding the last piece of the core stage structure: the engine section.

After this piece is added, the four RS-25 engines can be connected to the stage. When the stage is completely assembled, NASA's Pegasus barge will deliver it to Stennis. For the Green Run test, the core stage flight unit will be lifted and installed onto the B-2 stand, using procedures developed and practiced during the recent core stage pathfinder lift.

NASA then will conduct a series of tests to check out stage systems and make sure all are working as needed. Once systems are checked, NASA will conduct a full hot fire test of the stage, firing its four RS-25 engines simultaneously, just as during an actual launch.

The hot fire test will generate more than 2 million pounds of combined thrust and provide critical performance data needed to demonstrate the core stage design is flightworthy and ready for launch.

Following necessary refurbishment of the stage, it will be transported by barge to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At Kennedy, the stage will be mated with other SLS major elements and prepared for launch of the Artemis 1 mission.

NASA conducts a 'BOO-tiful' RS-25 engine test

NASA delivered a treat with a full-duration RS-25 engine test Oct. 31, and the shake, rattle and roar of the hot fire kept away any eerie creaks and frightful sounds the Halloween day might have had to offer. A team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services operators conducted the 500-second RS-25 test on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., the fifth hot fire in an engine test series that began in mid-August. The test marked an acceptance hot fire of another RS-25 engine controller for use on a future flight of NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is being built now to carry humans deeper into space than ever before. The new flight controller serves as the RS-25 "brain," helping the engine communicate with the rocket and controlling engine operation and internal health diagnostics. The recent RS-25 test series also features a 3D-printed pogo accumulator, used to dampens pressure oscillations that can cause flight instability, and an innovative main combustion chamber, fabricated using a new hot isostatic pressing (HIP) bonding technique that saves considerable time and money. NASA has been testing RS-25 engines at Stennis since 2015 to ensure they will perform as needed for SLS, which will be the most powerful rocket in the world. Four RS-25 engines, firing simultaneously, will provide a combined 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch the new rocket. The engines will fire in conjunction with a pair of solid rocket boosters; altogether, SLS will launch with more than 8 million pounds of thrust.

The RS-25 engines to be used on initial SLS missions are former space shuttle main engines, modified to provide additional power. Through the shuttle years, the engines were modified to provide additional thrust up to 109 percent of the original designated level.

SLS will also evolve to a larger, more powerful rocket, and engines are being modified again to operate at 111 percent of their original power level for additional performance. In addition to its RS-25 hot fires, NASA is preparing to test the core stage for the first SLS mission on the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis.

The test will involve installing the flight core stage on the renovated stand and firing its four RS-25 engines simultaneously, like during an actual launch. RS-25 engines are important for powering the SLS as NASA leads a return to the Moon through an innovative and sustainable program of exploration to expand human presence into the solar system.

Beginning with Exploration Mission-1, SLS and Orion will demonstrate the critical backbone capabilities that will carry humans to the Moon and farther into space than ever before on a variety of missions with increasing complexity.

SLS's unprecedented power and volume will also carry the large pieces of hardware needed to build the Gateway and other long-term infrastructure at the Moon and later, for human missions to Mars. Aerojet Rocketdyne is the RS-25 engine prime contractor. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations.