CST-100 Update #2: Starliner Is Set to Make Another Unmanned Test Flight Around This Christmas...

Boeing

Boeing’s Starliner Makes Progress Ahead of Flight Test with Astronauts (News Release)

NASA and Boeing continue to make progress toward the company’s second uncrewed flight test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft prior to flying astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The Commercial Crew Program currently is targeting no earlier than December 2020 for launch of the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) pending hardware readiness, flight software qualification, and launch vehicle and space station manifest priorities.

Over the summer, Boeing’s Starliner team focused on readying the next spacecraft for its upcoming flight tests as well as making improvements identified during various review processes throughout the beginning of the year. NASA also announced an additional crew assignment for its first operational mission, NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1, with astronauts to the space station. Here’s more on the recent progress:

Starliner Progress

Teams from Boeing are well into final assembly of the crew and service modules that will fly OFT-2 to the space station inside of the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. OFT-2 will fly a new, reusable Starliner crew module providing additional on-orbit experience for the operational teams prior to flying missions with astronauts. For Boeing’s Commercial Crew missions, the Starliner spacecraft will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

With the majority of assembly complete, recent progress is focused on the NASA docking system re-entry cover, which was added to the design for additional protection of the system. The team also has completed the installation of the Starliner propellant heater, thermal protection system tiles and the air bags that will be used when the spacecraft touches down for landing. As final production activities continue to progress, the crew module recently entered acceptance testing, which will prove out the systems on the spacecraft before it’s mated with its service module.

In Houston, the software team is nearing the final stages of modifying and re-verifying the flight code after the first uncrewed flight test. As part of that effort, the team recently began a major milestone called Formal Qualification Testing, which is a comprehensive test of flight software and an important step in preparing for an end-to-end mission rehearsal test.

Boeing also remains focused on incorporating the recommendations from the joint NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team with almost 75% of the 80 proposed actions implemented. The independent team was formed to review anomalies experienced during OFT, which led to Starliner not reaching its planned orbit or docking to station as planned, and to provide recommendations to ensure a robust design for future missions. In addition to opting to re-fly its uncrewed flight test, Boeing elected to comprehensively implement all of the recommendations provided by the review team.

Following a successful OFT-2, Boeing will focus full attention on preparations for its final flight test with astronauts and is already completing work on the Crew Flight Test spacecraft in parallel. Teams continue refurbishing the crew module flown on Starliner’s first uncrewed flight test for reuse with astronauts. After removing and conducting checkouts on various systems and flight hardware, Boeing is preparing to reassemble the vehicle for flight. Soon, outfitting of the crew module’s interior will begin along with packing parachutes and airbags ahead of installation. The vehicle’s NASA Docking System has been modified to accommodate the new cover, and outfitting of subsystem components continues on the spacecraft’s brand new service module.

Crew Updates and Target Flight Schedules

In advance of the OFT-2 mission, flight control teams from NASA and Boeing completed an integrated launch-to-docking simulation in August with additional mission simulations on the horizon as the teams fine-tune flight rules and procedures.

After a successful OFT-2, Boeing and NASA will fly Starliner’s first crewed mission, the Crew Flight Test, currently targeted for no earlier than June 2021, with the first post-certification mission, called Starliner-1, tentatively scheduled for no earlier than late December 2021.

The CFT crew members are Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson and NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann.

In addition to training for living and working on station, astronauts continue to work closely with Starliner test teams. Several crew members plan to participate in ongoing acceptance testing of the OFT-2 crew module inside the C3PF.

Recently, the CFT crew helped test software updates with real flight hardware in Boeing’s Avionics and Software Integration Lab in Houston. They practiced performing manual separation events for several low likelihood contingencies, demonstrating the software improvements had no adverse effect on controls needed to stay safe in any situation. The crew also participated in procedural dry runs for future life support tests with the Starliner spacecraft in Florida. Later this year, the CFT crew will be suited inside the spacecraft with the vehicle providing all of their life support.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada and Jeanette Epps are crew members of the Starliner-1 mission. Cassada and Williams were both selected for the mission in August 2018, and NASA announced Epps’ assignment Aug. 25.

Astronauts for both CFT and Starliner-1 missions regularly participate in rehearsals of launch and mission operations in both normal and emergency scenarios. They also are continuing with on-going mission-specific training for life in orbit including the work they’ll perform after joining their respective Expedition crews awaiting them on station.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including helping us prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

CST-100 Update: A History-Making Astronaut Will Fly on Starliner's First Operational Crewed Flight to the ISS Next Year...

NASA

NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps Joins First Operational Boeing Crew Mission to Space Station (Press Release)

NASA has assigned astronaut Jeanette Epps to NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 mission, the first operational crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station.

Epps will join NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada for a six-month expedition planned for a launch in 2021 to the orbiting space laboratory. The flight will follow NASA certification after a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 and Crew Flight Test with astronauts.

The spaceflight will be the first for Epps, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1992 from LeMoyne College in her hometown of Syracuse, New York. She completed a master’s degree in science in 1994 and a doctorate in aerospace engineering in 2000, both from the University of Maryland, College Park.

While earning her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles on her research. After completing graduate school, she worked in a research laboratory for more than two years, co-authoring several patents, before the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited her. She spent seven years as a CIA technical intelligence officer before her selection as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.

NASA assigned Williams and Cassada to the Starliner-1 mission in August 2018. The spaceflight will be the first for Cassada and third for Williams, who spent long-duration stays aboard the space station on Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and to the space station. Commercial transportation to and from the station will provide expanded utility, additional research time and broader opportunities for discovery on the orbital outpost.

For nearly 20 years, the station has served as a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight. As commercial companies focus on providing human transportation services to and from low-Earth orbit, NASA will concentrate its focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep-space missions.

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Artemis 3 Update #2: Blue Origin Unveils a Full-Scale Mockup of Its Lunar Lander...

Blue Origin

Blue Origin-Led National Team Delivers Lunar Lander Engineering Mockup to NASA (News Release)

Today, the Blue Origin-led Human Landing System (HLS) National Team – comprised of Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper – delivered an engineering mockup of a crew lander vehicle that could take American astronauts to the Moon. The lander is set up in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), NASA Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) iconic Building 9.

The full-scale engineering mockup showcases two elements of the National Team’s multi-element architecture – the Ascent Element (AE) and Descent Element (DE). Standing at more than 40 feet, it is the Blue Origin National Team’s update to Apollo’s Lunar Module (LM) and will be used to validate the National Team’s approaches for getting crew, equipment, supplies, and samples off and on the vehicle. The team will collaborate with NASA organizations including JSC’s Astronaut Office to perform engineering and crew operations tests with astronauts aiming to fly the final system within several years.

“Testing this engineering mockup for crew interaction is a step toward making this historic mission real,” said Brent Sherwood, vice president of Advanced Development Programs, Blue Origin. “The learning we get from full-scale mockups can’t be done any other way. Benefitting from NASA’s expertise and feedback at this early stage allows us to develop a safe commercial system that meets the agency’s needs.”

The National Team HLS design leverages significant prior work, flight heritage, and a modular solution. Modular solutions help to enable faster progress due to the independent development and testing of each element, which permits ongoing improvements and evolution without impacting the full system. This also provides flexibility in the use of different launch vehicles and different concepts of operations.

The Descent Element is based on Blue Origin’s Blue Moon cargo lander and BE-7 LOX/hydrogen engine, both in development for more than three years. The Ascent Element incorporates avionics, software, life support hardware, crew interfaces, and mission operations from Lockheed Martin’s human-rated, deep-space Orion vehicle that will fly on the Artemis I and II missions. A consistent cockpit experience and training from Orion to the AE makes the end-to-end mission safer for Artemis. The Transfer Element, a propulsive stage that starts the lander on its descent trajectory from lunar orbit, is based on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus vehicle that provides logistics resupply to the International Space Station; and Draper provides descent guidance and avionics to the National Team.

“Each partner brings its own outstanding legacy to the National Team. These include developing, integrating, and operating human-rated spacecraft, launch systems and planetary landers. Together we form an excellent team to send our next astronauts to the Moon in 2024,” said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Campaigns at Lockheed Martin Space. “Augmenting state of the art tools with physically being able to see, interact, and evaluate a full-up lander in person is critical. It will inform our design and requirements earlier in the program allowing us to accelerate our development and meet the 2024 lunar landing goal.”

The mockup will remain at JSC through early 2021 for a series of tests and simulations. Over the coming months, the National Team will continue to build and increase mockup fidelity. NASA’s Human Landing System Program is managed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Source: Blue Origin

Artemis 3 Update: The First Component for the Orion Capsule Has Been Manufactured...

NASA

Orion Window Panel Complete for Front-Row View on Artemis Moon Mission (News Release)

As NASA's Orion spacecraft approaches the Moon on the Artemis III mission to put the first woman and next man on the lunar surface, the crew will get a glimpse through the spacecraft’s windows.

The first element machined for the Artemis III Orion crew module – a cone panel with openings for windows which will provide that spectacular view – was designed by Orion’s lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, and manufactured by AMRO Fabricating Corp., of South El Monte, California. The completed panel is on its way to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, Louisiana, where engineers will weld it with other panels as part of Orion’s pressure vessel.

“It’s truly exciting to have the first piece of the Artemis III Orion spacecraft completed at AMRO that will enable American astronauts to build a sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” said Acting Orion Program Manager Howard Hu.

In addition to machining elements for Orion’s crew module, AMRO manufactures the panels for the core stage, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion stage adapter for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send Orion to the Moon during Artemis missions.

Orion, SLS, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) programs are foundational elements of the Artemis program, beginning with Artemis I, the first integrated flight test of Orion and SLS next year. Artemis II will follow with the system’s first crewed mission, taking humans farther into space than ever before.

Human exploration of the Moon under the Artemis program offers a unique opportunity to test, refine, and perfect many of the technologies and complex operations that will be needed to land humans on Mars, perform their work on the surface and safely return them to Earth.

Together, Orion, SLS and EGS are using suppliers in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico – almost half of which are small businesses. These suppliers are creating jobs, reinvigorating manufacturing, and promoting American innovation in our aerospace industrial base and beyond through their work on NASA’s exploration programs.

Source: NASA.Gov

Artemis 1 Update: Orion's Latest Processing Milestone Moves It One Step Closer to Launch Next Year...

NASA

NASA Begins Installing Orion Adapter for First Artemis Moon Flight (News Release)

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are working to install an adapter that will connect the Orion spacecraft to its rocket for the Artemis I mission around the Moon. This is one of the final major hardware operations for Orion inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building prior to integration with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The spacecraft adapter cone (seen at the bottom of the stack pictured above) connects to the bottom of Orion’s service module and will later join another adapter connected to the top of the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS). During the process to install the cone on Orion, the spacecraft is lifted out of the Final Assembly and Systems Testing, or FAST, cell and placed into the Super Station support fixture.

During flight, the SLS rocket separates in multiple stages as it pushes Orion into deep space. After accelerating Orion towards the Moon, the spacecraft will separate from the ICPS and adapter cone using pyrotechnics and springs.

Next up before stacking Orion on the rocket, technicians will install coverings to protect fluid lines and electrical components on the crew module adapter that connects Orion to the service module. Workers also will install the solar array wings that will provide Orion with power, spacecraft adapter jettison fairings that enclose the service module for launch, and the forward bay cover that protects the parachute system.

Orion will fly on the agency’s Artemis I mission – the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon that will lead to human exploration of Mars. Through the Artemis program, NASA is working to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

SLS Update: The Green Run Test Campaign Is 50% Complete!

NASA / Stennis

Four Down, Four to Go: Artemis I Rocket Moves Closer to Hot Fire Test (News Release)

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage for the Artemis I lunar mission has successfully completed its first four Green Run tests and is building on those tests for the next phase of checkout as engineers require more capability of the hardware before hot-firing the stage and its four powerful engines.

Green Run is a demanding series of eight tests and nearly 30 firsts: first loading of the propellant tanks, first flow through the propellant feed systems, first firing of all four engines, and first exposure of the stage to the vibrations and temperatures of launch.

“We are methodically bringing several complex systems to life and checking them out during the first seven tests,” explained SLS Stages Manager Julie Bassler. “Then it is show time for the eighth test when we put it all together and fire up the rocket’s core stage, just like we’ll fire it up for the Artemis I launch to the Moon.”

On Aug. 5, engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St Louis, Mississippi, where the stage is loaded into the B-2 Test Stand, completed the fourth of eight planned tests of the 212-foot-tall core stage. For Test 4, engineers performed the initial functional checkout of the main propulsion system components to verify command and control operability (valve response, timing, etc.) and performed leak checks on the core stage-to-facility umbilical fluid and gas connections.

“With test gases flowing through this many parts of a complex rocket stage, we expected the test team to encounter some issues,” said Jonathan Looser, who manages the SLS core stage main propulsion system. “Historically, there’s never been a NASA human-rated launch vehicle flown without one or more full-up tests before flight, and they have all encountered first-time issues. As expected, we found a few with valves and seals and addressed them, and now we’re ready to complete the next four Green Run tests.”

The Green Run testing series formally started in January with modal testing to verify computer models and support guidance and navigation control systems. In March, the test series was interrupted by a shutdown related to COVID-19 cases in Mississippi. When testing resumed in May with appropriate safety measures in place, the team completed Test 2, activation of computers, data collection health monitoring and other “avionics” that make up the brains and nervous system of the core stage. Test 3 was a check of the fail-safe systems that shut down the stage in a contingency situation. Each test builds on the prior test and is longer than the previous one, adding new hardware activations to those already completed.

For Test 4, functional and leak checks of the stage main propulsion systems and engines lasted three weeks. Engineers were able to conduct the test with gaseous nitrogen and helium, which is more efficient than using liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants, which are only needed for the actual hot-fire test. As these gases flowed through systems, special instrumentation monitored for any leaks or poor connections.

Next up for the Green Run team is Test 5. It will ensure the stage thrust vector control system works correctly, which includes huge components that steer the four RS-25 engines, called actuators, and provides hydraulics to the engine valves.

Test 6 simulates the launch countdown to validate the countdown timeline and sequence of events. This includes the step-by-step fueling procedures in addition to the previous test steps of powering on the avionics and simulated propellant loading and pressurization.

As one final checkout before the full firing test, Test 7 is called the “wet dress rehearsal,” meaning it builds on the simulations in Test 6 and includes fueling the rocket. After once again powering on the avionics, hydraulic systems, fail-safe systems, and other related systems that have been checked out in the prior six tests, the team will load, control, and drain more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super cold, propellants.

Only after passing these seven tests will it be time for Test 8, a full countdown and hot fire test for up to eight minutes. During the test, all four RS-25 engines will be firing at a full, combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust just as they will on the launch pad. Test 8 will be the final checkout to verify the stage is ready for launch. Afterward, engineers will prepare the stage for its trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“We want to find any issues here on the ground at Stennis, where we’ve added hundreds of special ground test sensors to the stage for Green Run,” said Ryan McKibben, one of the Stennis Green Run test conductors. “We have great access to the stage on the B-2 Test Stand and have engineers and technicians on hand who are familiar with this stage.”

By the time all eight Green Run tests are complete, Boeing, the prime contractor for the core stage, estimates it will collect 75-100 terabytes of data, not including voice and video data collected. And that’s a lot of homework considering that all the data in the Library of Congress amounts to just 15 terabytes.

NASA is working to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. SLS and Orion, along with the Human Landing System and the Gateway in orbit around Moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

Photos of the Day: SpaceX Conducts a Test Flight of Its Newest Starship Prototype in South Texas...

SpaceX

About six hours ago, SpaceX successfully conducted a 150-meter (492-feet) hop of its Starship SN5 (Serial No. 5) prototype rocket at its launch site in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The nearly one-minute flight took place almost a year after SpaceX's previous prototype, the Starhopper, made its own flawless hop (also to a height of 150 meters) from the company's test facility near the Gulf of Mexico. Today's historic demonstration follows months of setbacks as earlier Starship iterations (SN1 to SN3) were destroyed at the launch pad during pressurization tests, and even fuel leakage following a successful static fire (SN4).

SpaceX will continue to conduct additional low-altitude hops to smooth out the launch process, before it finally moves to much higher flights (to an altitude of possibly 20 kilometers, or 12 miles) with Starships flying on three methane-fueled Raptor engines...not a single thruster like what was used on the Starhopper and SN5 today. Once operational, Starship will launch into deep space using a total of 31 Raptor engines on its Super Heavy first stage booster. It will only be a few years before this becomes a reality.


SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX

Starship takes flight pic.twitter.com/IWvwcA05hl

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 5, 2020

Demo-2 Update: Dragon Endeavour's Historic Mission Has Finally Come to a Successful End!

NASA / Bill Ingalls

NASA Astronauts Safely Splash Down after First Commercial Crew Flight to Space Station (Press Release)

Two NASA astronauts splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday for the first time in a commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft, returning from the International Space Station to complete a test flight that marks a new era in human spaceflight.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, carrying Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, splashed down under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 2:48 p.m. EDT Sunday and was successfully recovered by SpaceX. After returning to shore, the astronauts immediately will fly back to Houston.

“Welcome home, Bob and Doug! Congratulations to the NASA and SpaceX teams for the incredible work to make this test flight possible,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “It’s a testament to what we can accomplish when we work together to do something once thought impossible. Partners are key to how we go farther than ever before and take the next steps on daring missions to the Moon and Mars.”

Behnken and Hurley’s return was the first splashdown for American astronauts since Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand, and Donald “Deke” Slayton landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii on July 24, 1975, at the end of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight launched May 30 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After reaching orbit, Behnken and Hurley named their Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endeavour” as a tribute to the first space shuttle each astronaut had flown aboard.

Nearly 19 hours later, Crew Dragon docked to the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module May 31.

“On behalf of all SpaceX employees, thank you to NASA for the opportunity to return human spaceflight to the United States by flying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley,” said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. “Congratulations to the entire SpaceX and NASA team on such an extraordinary mission. We could not be more proud to see Bob and Doug safely back home—we all appreciate their dedication to this mission and helping us start the journey towards carrying people regularly to low Earth orbit and on to the Moon and Mars. And I really hope they enjoyed the ride!”

Behnken and Hurley participated in a number of scientific experiments, spacewalks and public engagement events during their 62 days aboard station. Overall, the astronaut duo spent 64 days in orbit, completed 1,024 orbits around Earth and traveled 27,147,284 statute miles.

The astronauts contributed more than 100 hours of time to supporting the orbiting laboratory’s investigations. Hurley conducted the Droplet Formation Study inside of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), which evaluates water droplet formation and water flow. Hurley also conducted the Capillary Structures investigation, which studies the use of different structures and containers to manage fluids and gases.

Hurley and Behnken worked on numerous sample switch outs for the Electrolysis Measurement (EM) experiment, which looks at bubbles created using electrolysis and has implications for numerous electrochemical reactions and devices. Both crew members also contributed images to the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) study. CEO images help record how our planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes – such as urban growth and reservoir construction – to natural dynamic events, including hurricanes, floods, and volcanic eruptions.

Behnken conducted four spacewalks while on board the space station with Expedition 63 Commander and NASA colleague Chris Cassidy. The duo upgraded two power channels on the far starboard side of the station’s truss with new lithium-ion batteries. They also routed power and Ethernet cables, removed H-fixtures that were used for ground processing of the solar arrays prior to their launch, installed a protective storage unit for robotic operations, and removed shields and coverings in preparation for the arrival later this year of the Nanoracks commercial airlock on a SpaceX cargo delivery mission.

Behnken now is tied for most spacewalks by an American astronaut with Michael Lopez-Alegria, Peggy Whitson, and Chris Cassidy, each of whom has completed 10 spacewalks. Behnken now has spent a total of 61 hours and 10 minutes spacewalking, which makes him the U.S. astronaut with the third most total time spacewalking, behind Lopez-Alegria and Andrew Feustel, and the fourth most overall.

The Demo-2 test flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which has worked with the U.S. aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil to the space station for the first time since 2011. This is SpaceX’s final test flight and is providing data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations.

Crew Dragon Endeavour will return back to SpaceX’s Dragon Lair in Florida for inspection and processing. Teams will examine the spacecraft’s data and performance from throughout the test flight. The completion of Demo-2 and the review of the mission and spacecraft pave the way for NASA to certify SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX is readying the hardware for the first rotational mission, called Crew-1, later this year. This mission would occur after NASA certification, which is expected to take about six weeks.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including helping us prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

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NASA / Bill Ingalls


NASA / Bill Ingalls


NASA / Bill Ingalls