The Orion crew module for the uncrewed Artemis 1 Mission slated for 2020 has been completed,Vice President Mike Pence announced on 20 July 2019.Speaking at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center,Florida,Mr. Pence was joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine,Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin,KSC Director Robert Cabana,Lockheed Martin CEO Marilyn Hewson,and Rick Armstrong,son of the late Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong.*
Looking ahead:
1.Since being shipped in its bare bones pressure vessel form from the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans,the capsule has been integrated with thousands of parts and undergone rigorous testing of its flight systems.The European Service Module for Artemis 1 has also been completed.It will provide power,propulsion,water and oxygen for the Artemis Moon missions.The ESM is a product of Airbus Space and Defence in Bremen,Germany.Engineers have begun the process of joining the crew module to the service module,with teams connecting power and fluid lines to complete hardware attachment.
2.Next,the conjoined modules will be shipped via the cavernous Guppy aircraft to NASA Plum Brook Station in Sandusky,Ohio for testing to verify that the partial stack can survive the challenging conditions of deep spaceflight.
3.Pending successful completeion of the Plum Brook tests,the partial stack will be returned to KSC for final processing and inspection.Then it will be fueled and transported to the monumental Vehicle Assembly Building for integration with the new Space Launch System rocket.Finally,the complete stack will be rolled out on the crawler transporter to Launch Complex 39B to await launch.*
Engineers at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,Alabama are more than 50% through their evaluation of the SLS for deep space missions.*
The crewed Artemis 2 Mission is scheduled for 2022 and is to set the distance record for crewed spaceflight,reaching a high lunar orbit 40,000 miles from the Moon.*
Lockheed Martin (LMT)
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