NASA Takes Major Steps Toward Launching World’s Largest Rocket

NASA Takes Major Steps Toward Launching World’s Largest Rocket

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket lifts off with Orion from Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center as seen in the illustration.
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket lifts off with Orion from Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center as seen in the illustration. Photo credit: NASA

By Bob Granath

NASA’s spacecraft designed to return astronauts to the Moon recently reached a major milestone in preparations for its first flight atop the world’s largest rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS. The Orion capsule for the agency’s Artemis I mission moved from the manufacturing and assembly stage to processing for flight. This is one of the latest steps forward for the program that will take the first woman and next man to the lunar surface.

Orion is mounted atop a transport pallet Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 14, 2021. Processing teams are preparing to move the spacecraft to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility where it will be fueled for its Artemis I mission around the Moon.
Orion is mounted atop a transport pallet inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 14, 2021. Processing teams are preparing to move the spacecraft to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility where it will be fueled for its Artemis I mission around the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

“Artemis I will be the first integrated flight of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft,” Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said on Jan. 8, 2021. “The uncrewed flight test will demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.”

Engineers and technicians with Lockheed Martin have been building Orion spacecraft over the past decade in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy. On Jan. 14, 2021, Orion was lifted out of a test stand and transported to Multi-Payload Processing Facility at the Florida spaceport where it will be loaded with propellant, high-pressure gases and coolant.

With this transfer, Orion has formally begun pre-flight processing by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team and Jacobs Technology, the agency’s Test and Operations Support Contractor.

With liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant, the core stage of the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket fires its four engines in the B-2 Test Stand at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on Jan. 16, 2021. Together with twin solid rocket boosters, the SLS core stage is scheduled to launch an Orion spacecraft on the first integrated Artemis mission.
With liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant, the core stage of the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket fires its four engines in the B-2 Test Stand at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi on Jan. 16, 2021. Together with twin solid rocket boosters, the SLS core stage is scheduled to launch an Orion spacecraft on the first integrated Artemis mission. Photo credit: NASA TV

In a recent test of the launch vehicle that will boost Orion to space, NASA performed an important assessment of the SLS. The core stage of the rocket ignited its four engines in a hot fire test at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The operation was designed to check the stage’s readiness to support Artemis I.

On Jan. 16, 2021, the Stennis team successfully completed the countdown and ignited all four engines, but a shutdown occurred a little more than one minute into the hot fire. The plan called for the rocket’s four engines to fire for a little more than eight minutes – the same amount of time it will take to send the rocket to space during launch. Throughout the hot fire, all four engines performed as expected. While the test planned to fire the four engines for about 8 minutes, the team still achieved several objectives during the shorter firing.

“The test was an important step forward to ensure that the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready for the Artemis I mission, and to carry crew on future missions,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “Although the engines did not fire for the full duration, the team successfully worked through the countdown, ignited the engines and gained valuable data to aid our path forward.”

In High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 7, 2021, the left-hand center booster segment for Artemis I is lowered onto the aft booster segment on the mobile launcher for the Space Launch System rocket.
In High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 7, 2021, the left-hand center booster segment for Artemis I is lowered onto the aft booster segment on the mobile launcher. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama, builds the core stage along with the avionics that control the vehicle during flight. The 212-foot tall stage feeds 733,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super-cold, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to its four engines generating 1.6 million pounds of thrust.

When lifting off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy, the SLS core stage will combine with its two solid rocket boosters to generate a total of 8.8 million pounds of thrust, more than any previous launch vehicle.

Cabana pointed out that many important activities have been ongoing in preparation for that historic mission.

This illustration shows NASA’s Space Launch System being stacked in Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy.
This illustration shows NASA’s Orion spacecraft being stacked atop a Space Launch System rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

“Stacking of the Space Launch System rocket boosters for the Artemis I mission continues inside the Vehicle Assembly Building,” he said. “The right and left center segments were lifted and stacked atop the already stacked aft segments on the mobile launcher.”

Northrop Grumman in Utah manufactures the twin solid rocket boosters for SLS that will each generate 3.6 million pounds of thrust. When SLS and Orion lift off, the rocket will boost to orbit a vehicle weighing nearly six million pounds.

Ongoing Preparations

NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson follows operations at her console in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center. A countdown simulation for Artemis I was taking place on March‎ ‎29‎, ‎2018.
NASA Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson follows operations at her console in Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Control Center. A countdown simulation for Artemis I was taking place on March‎ ‎29‎, ‎2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Since 2018, the NASA/contractor team at Kennedy have conducted a series of countdown simulations in an updated Firing Room in the spaceport’s Launch control Center. Rehearsal helps ensure everyone and everything is ready for a big performance.

Space Launch System Test Conductors Roberta Wyrick, left, and Tracy Parks, both with Jacobs, NASA's Test and Operations Support Contractor, monitor operations on from their consoles in Firing Room 1.
Space Launch System Test Conductors Roberta Wyrick, left, and Tracy Parks, both with Jacobs, NASA’s Test and Operations Support Contractor, monitor operations on from their consoles in Firing Room 1. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

“The key is for those in the Firing Room to learn how to work individually and as teams to quickly develop solutions as problems arise,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for the first Artemis flight. She will lead the launch team for the first flight test of this next-generation launch system. In her role, she will make the final “go/no-go” decision prior to liftoff.

The size of the group in the Firing Room is being significantly streamlined since the days of Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Over 450 were required to support Saturn V launches to the Moon. That was cut by more than half to about 200 for the shuttle.

“It’s a smaller group than in the past, but we’re striving for efficiency,” Blackwell-Thompson said. “We studied workload, the number of commands sent by controllers and launch commit criteria. Tests like this will help us get to the ideal staffing before launch.”

Doing What Hasn’t Been Done

During the Artemis I mission, the Orion will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. The capsule will remain in space longer than any vehicle designed for astronauts without docking to a space station and travel farther from Earth than any previous human-rated spacecraft.

This illustration depicts Orion atop its Space Launch System rocket as it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
This illustration depicts Orion atop its Space Launch System rocket as it rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA

“This is a mission that truly will do what hasn’t been done and learn what isn’t known,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It will blaze a trail that people will follow on the next Orion flight, pushing the edges of the envelope to prepare for that mission.”

After liftoff, Orion will orbit the Earth and deploy its solar arrays. The vehicle’s upper stage, called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, will then give Orion a boost to leave Earth’s orbit for the trip to the Moon. Following the ICPS engine firing, Orion will separate from the upper stage about two hours after liftoff.

Continuing its path to the Moon, Orion systems will be supported by a service module provided by the European Space Agency. It will supply the spacecraft’s main propulsion system and power. Orion will continue to demonstrate its unique design navigating, communicating and operating in the deep space environment well beyond low Earth orbit.

Flying Beyond the Moon

An illustration of the Orion spacecraft in trans-lunar injection. Venturing thousands of miles from Earth and beyond the Moon during a three-week Artemis I mission.
An illustration of Orion with the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage firing during trans-lunar injection. The spacecraft will venture thousands of miles from Earth and beyond the Moon during a three-week Artemis I mission. Photo credit: NASA

The trip will take several days, allowing engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to evaluate the spacecraft’s systems and, as needed, adjust its trajectory. After Orion flies about 62 miles above the lunar surface, it will use the Moon’s gravitation to propel the spacecraft into a new deep retrograde, or opposite, orbit about 40,000 miles from the Moon for about six days, collecting data and allowing mission controllers to assess its performance.

Using another precisely timed engine firing of the service module’s engine in conjunction with the Moon’s gravity, Orion will accelerate back to Earth. It will enter the atmosphere, traveling at 25,000 mph, with its heat shield protecting the spacecraft from re-entry temperatures of approximately 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Following Artemis I, the spacecraft will be recovered in the same way an earlier Orion capsule was after the Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, on Dec. 4, 2014. During EFT-1, Orion completed a two-orbit, four-and-a-half hour mission to test the spacecraft’s systems. NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin coordinated recovery efforts to secure the spacecraft inside the well deck of the USS Anchorage an amphibious transport dock ship in the Pacific Ocean.
Following Artemis I, the spacecraft will be recovered in the same way an earlier Orion capsule was after the Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1, on Dec. 4, 2014. During EFT-1, Orion completed a two-orbit, four-and-a-half hour mission to test the spacecraft’s systems. NASA, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin coordinated recovery efforts to secure the spacecraft inside the well deck of the USS Anchorage an amphibious transport dock ship in the Pacific Ocean. Photo credit: U.S. Navy

Plans call for the Artemis I capsule to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, California. Divers from the recovery ship will inspect the spacecraft for hazards and hook up tending and towlines. This will allow engineers to tow the capsule into the well deck of the recovery ship.

The Artemis I mission is planned to travel more than 1.3 million miles over three weeks. The trip will pave the way for a second flight which will take a crew of four astronauts on a different trajectory to the Moon, testing Orion’s systems with humans aboard.

“The launch and flight of Artemis I will be an impressive sight, but more importantly it will confirm Orion is ready to safely carry humans to the Moon and back home,” said Mike Hawes, Orion vice president and program manager for Lockheed Martin. “This tremendous advancement opens the door to a new era of deep space exploration that will ultimately benefit us back here on Earth.”

Exploring the Moon and Beyond

Future exploration missions with crews will assemble and dock with Gateway, a crucial component of NASA’s Artemis Program. The Gateway will serve as an outpost, a small space station, orbiting the Moon, providing vital support for a sustainable, long-term human return to the lunar surface, as well as a staging point for deep space exploration.

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the NASA’s Apollo Program took the first astronauts beyond Earth. Artemis will be a collaborative effort with commercial and international partners using innovative new technologies and systems to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. From there, the agency will use what was learned on and around the Moon to send astronauts to Mars.

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Artemis I Flight Plan

This diagram illustrates plans for the Artemis I, the first in a series of increasingly complex missions, providing a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrating America’s commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. During this flight, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and travel thousands of miles beyond the Moon, farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown, over the course of about a three-week mission.
This diagram illustrates plans for the Artemis I, the first in a series of increasingly complex missions, providing a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrating America’s commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. During this flight, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and travel thousands of miles beyond the Moon, farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown, over the course of about a three-week mission. Photo credit: NASA

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