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NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA’s Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Moves Closer to Launch (News Release)

NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft completed a short but important journey on August 10, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With spacecraft fueling complete, technicians moved Orion to the next facility on its path to the launch pad.

Teams transported Orion from Kennedy’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) where it has been loaded with propellants for flight, to the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF). There, engineers with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will integrate the escape system atop the crew module.

Orion arrived at the MPPF in May, where technicians fueled and processed Orion, loading propellants, high pressure gases, coolant and other fluids necessary for the spacecraft and crew to carry out their 10-day journey around the Moon and back. The Artemis II crew also took part in multiple days of tests inside Orion in the MPPF, donning their Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits and entering their spacecraft to test all of the equipment interfaces that they will operate during the mission.

Now inside the LASF, Orion will be integrated with its 44-foot-tall launch abort system, made up of two segments: the launch abort tower, including the abort, jettison and attitude control motors; and the fairing assembly, including the ogive panels that protect the crew module and provide aerodynamic support during launch. The system is designed to carry the crew to safety in the event of an emergency atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Once integration is completed, the entire Orion stack will be transported to High Bay 3 in NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building where it will be connected to its Moon rocket.

The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen around the Moon and safely return them back home. The mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign. Artemis will return Americans to the lunar surface and help the agency and its commercial and international partners prepare for future human missions to Mars.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett


NASA / Kim Shiflett