WASHINGTON, Aug. 14,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark progress toward the
first crewed flight test around the Moon in more than 50 years for
the benefit of humanity, NASA will welcome media
Wednesday, Aug. 21, to see a key adapter for the agency's
SLS (Space Launch System) rocket at its Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The cone-shaped launch vehicle stage adapter connects the
rocket's core stage to the upper stage and helps protect the upper
stage's engine that will help propel the Artemis II mission around
the Moon. The event includes seeing the adapter on the move as it
prepares for shipment to NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video and
speak to subject matter experts as crews move the adapter out of
NASA Marshall's Building 4708 to the agency's Pegasus barge. The
barge will ferry the adapter first to NASA's Michoud Assembly
Facility, where it will pick up additional SLS hardware for future
Artemis missions, and then travel to NASA Kennedy. In Florida, teams with NASA's Exploration Ground
Systems will prepare the adapter for stacking and launch.
This event is open to U.S. media, who must RSVP by 5 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 19, to Jonathan Deal at jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov.
Additional details about timing and other details for the event are
forthcoming to registered media.
Manufactured by prime contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering and
the Jacobs Space Exploration Group's ESSCA contract using NASA
Marshall's self-reacting friction-stir robotic and vertical weld
tools, the launch vehicle stage adapter is the largest SLS
component for Artemis II that is made at the center.
Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first
woman, first person of color, and its first international partner
astronaut on the Moon. The rocket is part of NASA's deep space
exploration plans, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting
ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, Gateway in orbit
around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. NASA's SLS
is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to
the Moon in a single launch.
For more on SLS, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/sls
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SOURCE NASA