Tag: Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

NASA Kennedy Top 24 Stories of 2024

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. SpaceX From sending crew members to the International Space Station to launching a spacecraft to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine if it could support life, 2024 was a busy record setting year for NASA and its partners at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JANUARYFirst Lunar Lander Takes Flight The first flight of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload…

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Artemis I Radiation Measurements Validate Orion Safety for Astronauts

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On flight day 13, Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission when it was 268,563 miles away from our home planet. Orion has now traveled farther than any other spacecraft built for humans. Credit: NASA NASA’s Orion spacecraft is designed to keep astronauts safe in deep space, protecting them from the unforgiving environment far from Earth. During the uncrewed Artemis I mission, researchers from NASA, along with several collaborators, flew payloads onboard Orion to measure potential radiation exposure to astronauts. Radiation measurements were taken inside…

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NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Gets Lift on Earth

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Crane operator Rebekah Tolatovicz, a shift mechanical technician lead for Artic Slope Regional Corporation at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operates a 30-ton crane to lift the agency’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft out of the recently renovated altitude chamber to the Final Assembly and Systems Testing, or FAST, cell inside NASA Kennedy’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on April 27. During her most recent lift July 10, Tolatovicz helped transfer Orion back to the FAST cell following vacuum chamber qualification testing in the altitude chamber earlier this…

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Orion on the Rise

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NASA/Radislav Sinyak Technicians lift NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell on June 28, 2024. The integrated spacecraft, which will be used for the Artemis II mission to orbit the Moon, has been undergoing final rounds of testing and assembly, including end-to-end performance verification of its subsystems and checking for leaks in its propulsion systems. A 30-ton crane returned Orion into the recently renovated altitude chamber where it underwent electromagnetic testing. The spacecraft now will undergo a series of tests that will subject it to a near-vacuum environment by removing…

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Altitude Chamber Gets Upgrade for Artemis II, Spacecraft Testing Begins 

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Before the Orion spacecraft is stacked atop NASA’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket ahead of the Artemis II mission, engineers will put it through a series of rigorous tests to ensure it is ready for lunar flight. In preparation for testing, teams at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida have made significant upgrades to the altitude chamber where testing will occur.   Several of the tests take place inside one of two altitude chambers in the high bay of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at…

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Splashdown 101: Joint Team to Recover Crew, Orion After Moon Missions

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NASA’s Artemis II crew members are assisted by U.S. Navy personnel as they exit a mockup of the Orion spacecraft onto an inflatable “front porch” while NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the USS San Diego practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article, during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. NASA/Jamie Peer When Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space…

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Signing Our Names

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The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission received its latest makeover. Teams adhered the agency’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA (European Space Agency) insignia on the spacecraft’s crew module adapter on Sunday, Jan. 28, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Rad Sinyak NASA’s iconic “worm” logo and ESA’s (European Space Agency) insignia are painted on the Orion spacecraft’s crew module adapter in this image from Feb. 1, 2024. The adapter houses electronic equipment for communications, power, and control, and includes…

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NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Top 20 Stories of 2023

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Here’s a look back at 2023’s most significant events at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: JANUARYDay of Remembrance Marks 20th Anniversary of Columbia Tragedy  NASA senior management and guests paid tribute to the crew members of space shuttle Columbia, as well as other astronauts who perished in the line of duty, during the agency’s Annual Day of Remembrance held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.    NASA’s Day of Remembrance NASA/Kim Shiflett JANUARYFacilities, Spacecraft Prepped for Artemis II Mission  Teams with Exploration Ground Systems began upgrading and modifying facilities…

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