Orion Program Update: The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter has been completed and shipped by barge from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center,Alabama,to NASA Kennedy Space Center.It links the SLS core stage to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage on top of the SLS rocket.Another adapter cone is presently being installed on the bottom of the Orion spacecraft stack, the European Service Module, to connect Orion to the ICPS.All this is in preparation for the uncrewed Artemis I test mission in late 2021, which will take Orion to a high lunar orbit and back.
At the same time, the SLS core stage is undergoing testing at the NASA
Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.This Green Run testing will culminate in a countdown and hotfire test of the
four Aerojet Rocketdyne upgraded Space Shuttle engines that propel the core stage.
According to NASA, the Boeing SLS is the only rocket that is powerful enough to send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon in one trip.The crewed Artemis Moon missions, beginning by 2024,will increase in complexity in order to enable Mars exploration in the 2030s.
No comments:
Post a Comment