Testing Will Soon Begin on a Newly-built Engine for the Space Launch System...

NASA / Danny Nowlin

NASA Stennis Teams Install New Production RS-25 Engine for Upcoming Hot Fire (News Release)

NASA marked a key milestone on February 18 with installation of RS-25 engine No. E20001, the first new production engine to help power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on future Artemis missions to the Moon.

The engine, built by lead SLS engines contractor L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne), was installed on the Fred Haise Test Stand in preparation for acceptance testing next month. It represents the first of 24 new flight engines being built for missions, beginning with Artemis V.

The NASA Stennis test team will conduct a full-duration, 500-second hot fire, providing critical performance data to certify the engine for use on a future mission. During missions to the Moon, RS-25 engines fire for about 500 seconds and up to the 111% power level to help launch SLS, with the Orion spacecraft, into orbit.

The engine arrived at the test stand from the L3Harris Engine Assembly Facility on the engine transport trailer before being lifted onto the vertical engine installer (VEI) on the west side deck. After rolling the engine into the stand, the team used the VEI to raise and secure it in place.

The upcoming acceptance test follows two certification test series that helped verify the new engine production process and components meet all performance requirements. Four RS-25 engines help launch SLS, producing up to 2 million pounds of combined thrust.

All RS-25 engines for Artemis missions are tested and proven flightworthy at NASA Stennis prior to use. RS-25 tests are conducted by a team of operators from NASA, L3Harris, and Syncom Space Services - prime contractor for site facilities and operations.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Danny Nowlin


NASA / Danny Nowlin


NASA / Danny Nowlin

Both SRBs for the Next SLS Are Fully Assembled for Flight!

NASA / Kim Shiflett

Stacking Complete on Artemis II Rocket Boosters (News Release)

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida completed stacking the twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building for the agency’s Artemis II crewed test flight around the Moon.

At launch and during liftoff, the boosters, which each stand 177 feet tall, will provide the majority of the 8.8 million pounds of thrust to propel four astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft on their journey.

During stacking operations, which began on November 20, 2024, technicians used a massive overhead crane to lift each booster segment into place on Mobile Launcher 1, the 380-foot-tall structure used to process, assemble and launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.

With stacking of the forward assemblies, or nose cones, complete, the last segments have been integrated to complete the booster configuration. Each forward assembly contains an aerodynamic top, a forward skirt housing avionics, and frustum housing motors that allow the boosters to separate from the SLS core stage after launch.

In total, 10 segments — five segments per booster – were transported from Kennedy’s Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility, where they underwent processing after arriving by train in September 2023 from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Utah, to the VAB for stacking operations.

Engineers will integrate the SLS core stage, currently undergoing processing in the VAB’s High Bay 2, in the coming weeks.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett

Five of the Six Passengers Who'll Fly on the Next Suborbital Flight from Texas Are Revealed...

Blue Origin

Blue Origin Announces Crew for New Shepard’s 30th Mission (News Release)

Blue Origin today revealed five of the six people flying on its NS-30 mission. The crew includes: Lane Bess, Jesús Calleja, Elaine Chia Hyde, Dr. Richard Scott, Tushar Shah and an undisclosed sixth crew member. Lane is flying on New Shepard for the second time, the fourth astronaut to do so.

This mission is the 10th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 30th in its history. To date, the program has flown 47 humans above the Kármán line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space.

Meet the Crew:

Lane Bess

Lane is the Principal and Founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory, a family office fund supporting technology firms that innovate and disrupt across multiple market sectors. He has led and built some of the world’s largest cybersecurity companies, including Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler, both of which he helped lead to IPO.

Lane also serves as a Trustee at Carnegie Mellon University and supports philanthropic interests across health and social issues. Lane first flew to space on NS-19 on December 11, 2021.

Jesús Calleja

Jesús is a Spanish TV host, mountaineer, pilot and lifelong adventurer. He currently hosts Calleja Planet, Flying By and Calleja Universe, which air on Mediaset channels in Spain.

Jesús’ adventures have taken him to every corner of the world, including the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and numerous deserts, active volcanoes and ancient sinkholes. A passionate race car driver, Jesús has participated in numerous international racing competitions, including four editions of the Dakar Rally and a 3,400-mile journey from the French Pyrenees to Dakar, Senegal.

Elaine Chia Hyde

Elaine is an entrepreneur, physicist and pilot. She is the founder of Chicago Star, a news and media company, and Eastside Enterprises, a research and development company focused on AI-assisted media products.

Elaine was born in Singapore and grew up in Australia. Space has captivated her imagination since childhood. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, she studied business and physics with the goal of inventing experiments to be conducted in space.

Elaine soon immigrated to the United States, where she worked as an intern at the University of Pennsylvania and later became a research scientist. Elaine, her husband, also a physicist, and their five children live in Florida.

Dr. Richard Scott

Dr. Scott is a reproductive endocrinologist, embryologist, professor, research scientist, philanthropist, entrepreneur and avid pilot. He was a founding partner and CEO of IVIRMA Global, the world’s largest fertility care group with clinics and laboratories in 10 countries.

Dr. Scott is an adjunct professor at Yale University and the University of South Carolina (Greenville) Medical Schools, and founded The Foundation for Embryonic Competence, a nonprofit focused on reproduction research, where he also serves as Scientific Director. He has served on the national boards of Directors of the Resolve and the American Fertility Associations, the two largest patient advocacy organizations for fertility care.

Dr. Scott and his wife have been married for 45 years and have four children.

Tushar Shah

Tushar is a partner and the co-head of research at a quantitative hedge fund in New York City. He studied physics as an undergraduate at MIT and high-energy experimental particle physics for his PhD, also at MIT.

Tushar and his wife, Sara, are philanthropists focused on addressing issues related to poverty, health and education. They have two children.

The flight date will be announced soon.

Source: Blue Origin

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Blue Origin

The Latest Update on the SLS Block 1B Variant...

NASA / Samuel Lott

NASA Readies Moon Rocket for the Future with Manufacturing Innovation (News Release - February 13)

NASA’s Artemis campaign will send astronauts, payloads and science experiments into deep space on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) super heavy-lift Moon rocket. Starting with Artemis IV, the Orion spacecraft and its astronauts will be joined by other payloads atop an upgraded version of the SLS, called Block 1B. SLS Block 1B will deliver initial elements of a lunar space station designed to enable long-term exploration of the lunar surface and pave the way for future journeys to Mars.

To fly these advanced payloads on their future journeys through deep space, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are building a cone-shaped adapter that is key to SLS Block 1B.

The payload adapter, nestled within the universal stage adapter sitting atop the SLS Block 1B’s Exploration Upper Stage, acts as a connecting point to secure a large payload that is co-manifested – or flying along with – the Orion spacecraft. The adapter consists of eight composite panels with an aluminum honeycomb core and two aluminum rings.

Beginning with the Artemis IV mission, SLS Block 1B will feature a new, more powerful upper stage that provides a substantial increase in payload mass, volume and energy over the first variant of the rocket that is launching Artemis missions I through III. SLS Block 1B can send 84,000 pounds of payload – including both a crewed Orion spacecraft and a 10-metric ton (22,046 lbs.) co-manifested payload riding in a separate cargo compartment – to the Moon in a single launch.

Artemis IV’s co-manifested payload will be the Lunar I-Hab, one of the initial elements of the Gateway lunar space station. Built by ESA (European Space Agency), the Lunar I-Hab provides expanded capability for astronauts to live, work, conduct science experiments and prepare for their missions to the lunar surface.

Before the Artemis IV mission structure was finalized, NASA engineers needed to design and test the new payload adapter.

“With SLS, there’s an intent to have as much commonality between flights as possible,” says Brent Gaddes, Lead for the Orion Stage Adapter and Payload Adapter in the SLS Spacecraft/Payload Integration & Evolution Office at NASA Marshall. However, with those payloads changing typically every flight, the connecting payload adapter must change as well. “We knew there needed to be a lot of flexibility to the payload adapter, and that we needed to be able to respond quickly in-house once the payloads were finalized,” says Gaddes.

A Flexible Approach

The required flexibility was not going to be satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach, according to Gaddes.

Since different size payload adapters could be needed, Marshall is using a flexible approach to assemble the payload adapter that eliminates the need for heavy and expensive tooling used to hold the parts in place during assembly. A computer model of each completed part is created using a process called structured light scanning. The computer model provides the precise locations where holes need to be drilled to hold the parts together so that the completed payload adapter will be exactly the right size.

“Structured light has helped us reduce costs and increase flexibility on the payload adapter and allows us to pivot,” says Gaddes. “If the call came down to build a cargo version of SLS to launch 40 metric tons, for example, we can use our same tooling with the structured light approach to adapt to different sizes, whether that’s for an adapter with a larger diameter that’s shorter, or one with a smaller diameter that’s longer. It’s faster and cheaper.”

NASA Marshall engineers use an automated placement robot to manufacture eight lightweight composite panels from a graphite epoxy material. The robot performs fast, accurate lamination following preprogrammed paths, its high speed and precision resulting in lower cost and significantly faster production than other manufacturing methods.

At NASA Marshall, an engineering development unit of the payload has been successfully tested which demonstrated that it can handle up to three times the expected load. Another test version currently in development, called the qualification unit, will also be tested to NASA standards for composite structures to ensure that the flight unit will perform as expected.

“The payload adapter is shaped like a cone, and historically, most of the development work on structures like this has been on cylinders, so that’s one of the many reasons why testing it is so important,” says Gaddes. “NASA will test as high a load as possible to learn what produces structural failure. Any information we learn here will feed directly into the body of information NASA has pulled together over the years on how to analyze structures like this, and of course that’s something that’s shared with industry as well. It’s a win for everybody.”

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Samuel Lott

The Latest Update on Gateway...

Thales Alenia Space

Lunar Space Station Module Will Journey to U.S. Ahead of NASA’s Artemis IV Moon Mission (News Release)

A key element of the Gateway lunar space station has entered the clean room for final installations after completing environmental stress tests.

When NASA’s Artemis IV astronauts journey to the Moon, they will make the inaugural visit to Gateway, humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit. Shown here, technicians carefully guide HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost)—a foundational element of Gateway—onto a stand in the clean room at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. The element’s intricate structure, designed to support astronauts and science in lunar orbit, has entered the clean room after successfully completing a series of rigorous environmental stress tests.

In the clean room, technicians will make final installations before preparing the module for transport to the United States, a key milestone on its path to launch. This process includes installing and testing valves and hatches, performing leak checks, and integrating external secondary structures. Once these steps are finished, the module will be packaged for shipment to Gilbert, Arizona, where Northrop Grumman will complete its outfitting.

As one of Gateway’s four pressurized modules, HALO will provide Artemis astronauts with space to live, work, conduct scientific research, and prepare for missions to the lunar surface. The module will also support internal and external science payloads, including a space weather instrument suite attached via a Canadian Space Agency Small Orbital Replacement Unit Robotic Interface, host the Lunar Link communications system developed by the European Space Agency, and offer docking ports for visiting vehicles, including lunar landers and NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

Developed in collaboration with industry and international partners, Gateway is a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis campaign to advance science and exploration on and around the Moon in preparation for the next giant leap: the first human missions to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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Thales Alenia Space

Update #2 on the Left Solid Rocket Booster for the Next SLS...

NASA / Glenn Benson

Artemis II Stacking - Left Forward Assembly SRB (Photo Release)

Technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems complete the integration of the left forward segment to the center forward segment on Mobile Launcher 1 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, February 7, 2025.

The twin solid boosters, five segments on each side, will help support the remaining rocket components and Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis II Moon rocket, and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS (Space Launch System) thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Glenn Benson


NASA / Glenn Benson


NASA / Glenn Benson

The Latest Update on One of the Orbital Successors to the ISS...

Vast

Vast Passes Critical Haven-1 Test Milestone (Press Release)

Vast is making rapid progress in designing and engineering Haven-1, establishing ourselves as a space station company—a title we believe is only earned by successfully building a station and safely hosting crew in orbit. Today, there are no operational commercial space station companies—only those working to achieve that milestone.

With the successful completion of the first crewed mission to Haven-1 on the updated timeline outlined below, Vast is on track to become the world’s first operational commercial space station company—well ahead of any other efforts. We kicked off the development of Haven-1, the first commercial space station, as part of a strategic plan to rapidly iterate on space station manufacturing for three main reasons:

‍1. Win NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination (CLD) Phase II Contract

Vast was founded in 2021. At the time, NASA had already launched the CLD program and awarded funding to other companies. Recognizing the need for a leapfrog strategy, we developed Haven-1 to set us apart. When NASA selects its partner(s) to carry forward its low-Earth orbit (LEO) legacy, we will be the only company operating a crewed space station—one we designed, built, tested and verified for safety entirely in-house.

By then, we will have:

- Conducted crewed missions
- Established commercial partnerships for R&D
- Leveraged microgravity for economic and scientific benefits
- Developed and implemented crew training procedures
- Built capabilities for science, research and all phases of flight operations

Every lesson learned from Haven-1 will be applied to our CLD Phase II proposal—Haven-2. No team will have more operational experience than Vast. No design will carry as much flight heritage.

No company will be better positioned to deliver for NASA as fast—thanks to our work and over $1 billion investment in Haven-1 ahead of CLD Phase II.

‍2. Build a World-Class Team, Processes and Facilities for Crewed Space Systems

‍At Vast, we believe that building a spacecraft under real-world budget and timeline constraints is the only way to develop the capabilities required for a successful space station. Others focus solely on design milestones, but what works on paper often breaks down when faced with manufacturing, supply chain and testing realities.

For example, Vast initially selected stainless steel as the primary structural material for Haven-1. However, due to manufacturing challenges and delays, we launched a parallel effort in November 2023 to explore aluminum as an alternative. By March 2024, after hands-on manufacturing experience with both materials, our team completed a trade study and selected aluminum—driven by real-world constraints, not theoretical assumptions.

This philosophy applies to every critical subsystem, including avionics, control moment gyroscopes (CMGs), power systems, life support and propulsion. We are actively maturing these technologies in-house and with trusted partners to ensure that they are mission-ready for Haven-1 and future Vast stations. These are just a few reasons why no bidder will have more direct experience going into the CLD Phase II selection than Vast.

‍3. Ensure a Continuous U.S. and International Partner Presence in LEO

‍With the planned retirement of the ISS in 2030, we believe that it is imperative that the U.S. government have at least two years of overlap between its decommissioning and any successor station. To fill this critical gap, Vast is committed to developing safe and capable space stations at unprecedented speed and cost efficiency.

By leveraging Haven-1’s proven design, team, facilities and subsystems, we are confident that, if selected by mid-2026, we can launch Haven-2’s first module and have it ready to host crew as early as the end of 2028.

‍Haven-1 Primary Structure Development

‍Vast rapidly built the Haven-1 primary structure qualification article—the first space station primary structure built in the U.S. in over two decades—to demonstrate its ability to withstand the launch and on-orbit environments throughout its operational lifetime. This effort began with the Haven-1 Pathfinder article, manufactured between November 2023 and June 2024, which established the necessary tooling, team and processes. The Pathfinder validated our ability to fabricate all critical geometries and interfaces required for Haven-1.

‍In July 2024, we began milling, inspecting, rolling and welding the primary structure qualification article, completing it in six months. Building on that success, we began manufacturing our flight-ready primary structure in January 2025. We remain on track to complete it by July 2025—a major milestone leading into the Haven-1 flight integration campaign.

Vast is producing space station primary structures in-house at an unprecedented pace—under six months per hull. This efficiency sets a new benchmark in space station manufacturing and is a key differentiator in our bid to succeed the ISS.

Vertically-integrated production of Haven-1 is happening in the United States. This approach strengthens U.S. leadership in space and benefits our future international partners, ensuring an affordable, rapid build of the successor to the ISS, and preventing any gap in human spaceflight and scientific research in LEO.

Haven-1 Primary Structure Qualification Proof Test

‍On Friday, January 31, our team began the test campaign for Haven-1’s primary structure qualification article after completing all on-test stand integration tasks, procedure checks and rehearsals. This marks the first of many full-scale vehicle test campaigns for Vast.

We initiated the test with a decay leak check at 0.2 barD, which passed successfully.

Next, we performed the proof test, pressurizing the vehicle to 1.8 barD (26 psig). As expected:

- No visual changes were observed.
- No leaks were detected.
- The pressure held steady for 5 hours, with the leak rate remaining within specification for 10 minutes.
- All strain gauges stayed within acceptable ranges.

Following this, we maintained the vehicle at 3 psi (0.2 bar) for 48 hours without adding new nitrogen gas to measure the leak rate. The leak rate was indiscernible, exceeding NASA’s 1.2 standard cubic centimeters per minute requirement. This test procedure follows NASA Standard 5001, ensuring compliance with rigorous safety and performance standards.

‍Testing Results

‍We are proud to report that Haven-1 successfully passed its primary structure qualification proof test on the first attempt—a critical milestone in our journey. This achievement demonstrates:

- The full proof qualification of a space station pressure vessel
- A space station structure designed, built and tested entirely in-house by Vast
- A record timeline—completed in just 15 months from zero aluminum work to a proof-tested structure

This is just the beginning for Vast’s vehicle operations. Our team is incredibly proud of this milestone and remains focused on what’s next. Over the coming weeks, we will complete the full qualification test campaign, which involves:

- Applying simulated launch and on-orbit forces using hydraulic actuators
- Conducting structural load tests under pressure
- Replicating the flight conditions that the vehicle will experience in orbit

Stay tuned for updates on our social media and a full blog post once the campaign is complete.

Source: VastSpace.com

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Vast

Stacking of the Left Solid Rocket Booster for the Next SLS Is Almost Complete...

NASA / Cory S. Huston

Artemis II Booster Segment #9 Pre-Lift (Photo Release)

Technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems use a crane in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare to lift the left forward segment for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket boosters on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. The left forward segment will be transferred into High Bay 3 where it will be attached to the center forward segment on Mobile Launcher 1.

The twin solid boosters, five segments on each side, will help support the remaining rocket components and Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis II Moon rocket and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Cory S. Huston

Another Successful Suborbital Flight from West Texas...

Blue Origin

Blue Origin Completes 29th New Shepard Mission, Successfully Simulates Lunar Gravity (News Release)

Blue Origin successfully completed its 29th New Shepard flight and 14th payload mission today from Launch Site One in West Texas. The payloads experienced roughly two minutes of lunar gravity forces. The New Shepard crew capsule used its reaction control system to spin up to approximately 11 revolutions per minute, simulating one-sixth Earth gravity at the midpoint of the crew capsule lockers.

The flight carried 30 payloads from NASA, research institutions and commercial companies, bringing the number of payloads flown on New Shepard to more than 175. Club for the Future, Blue Origin’s nonprofit, flew thousands of postcards as part of its Postcards to Space program. Each postcard will be returned to its creator stamped “Flown to Space.”

The Club has a digital method to create and send postcards, which can be found here.

Key mission statistics:

Official Launch Time: 10:00:00 AM CST / 16:00:00 UTC

Booster Apogee: 341,700 ft AGL / 345,347 ft MSL (104 km AGL / 105 km MSL)

Crew Capsule Apogee: 341,944 ft AGL / 345,591 ft MSL (104 km AGL / 105 km MSL)

Crew Capsule Landing Time: 10:10:06 AM CST / 16:10:06 UTC

Mission Elapsed Time: 10 minutes, 6 seconds

“New Shepard’s ability to provide a lunar gravity environment is an extremely unique and valuable capability as researchers set their sights on a return to the Moon,” said Phil Joyce, SVP, New Shepard. “This enables researchers to test lunar technologies at a fraction of the cost, rapidly iterate, and test again in a significantly compressed timeframe.”

A full replay of today’s flight is below.

Source: Blue Origin

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Only Four Segments Remain Before the Twin Solid Rocket Boosters for the Next SLS Are Complete...

NASA / Cory S. Huston

Artemis II Stacking Left Center (Photo Release)

Inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems integrate the left forward center booster segment for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket onto the left center center segment atop the Mobile Launcher on Thursday, January 30, 2025. The NASA “worm” insignia can be seen on both of the center center booster segments.

The boosters will help support the remaining rocket components and Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis II Moon rocket, and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39B.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Cory S. Huston


NASA / Cory S. Huston


NASA / Cory S. Huston