To mark progress toward the first manned flight test around the Moon for humanity’s benefit in more than 50 years, NASA will welcome the media on Wednesday, Aug. 21, to show them a key adapter for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The conical launch vehicle stage adapter connects the rocket’s main stage to the upper stage and protects the upper stage engine that will propel the Artemis II mission around the moon. At the event, the adapter can be seen in motion as it is prepared for transport to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video and speak with subject matter experts as teams move the adapter from NASA Marshall Building 4708 to the agency’s Pegasus ship. The ship will first take the adapter 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 from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems will prepare the adapter for stacking and launch.
This event is open to U.S. media. You must register by contacting Jonathan Deal at [email protected] by 5:00 p.m. CDT on Monday, August 19. Additional information on the schedule and other event details will be communicated to registered media shortly.
Manufactured by prime contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering and Jacobs Space Exploration Group under the ESSCA contract using NASA Marshall’s self-reacting friction stir robots and vertical welding tools, the launch vehicle stage adapter is the largest SLS component for Artemis II manufactured at the center.
As part of the Artemis campaign, NASA will land the first woman, the first person of color, and their 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 lunar orbit, and commercial human landing systems. NASA’s SLS is the only rocket capable of delivering Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the moon in a single launch.
For more information about SLS, see:
https://www.nasa.gov/sls
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Madison Tuttle/Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
[email protected]/[email protected]
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama.
256-544-0034
[email protected]
