A massive crane lifts NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell and moves it to the altitude chamber to complete further testing on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The altitude chamber simulates deep space vacuum conditions, and the testing will provide additional data to augment data gained during testing earlier this summer. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Media are invited to visit NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to capture imagery of…
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Artemis II Stacking Operations Update
Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program integrate the right forward center segment onto mobile launcher 1 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. The boosters will help support the remaining rocket components and the 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 Pad 39B NASA/Kim Shiflett Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program continue…
Read MoreI am Artemis: Jon Carabello
Jon Carabello has spent his entire career at TURBOCAM, which produces 10 core stage main engine turbomachinery components for the RS-25 main engine on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) heavy lift exploration rocket. Photo: TURBOCAM Jon Carabello did not begin his career journey with an eye on space, but when NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration campaign came calling, he was all in. Born, raised, and college-educated in New Hampshire, Carabello has spent his entire professional career at TURBOCAM – a turbomachinery development and manufacturing company – in the southeast corner of…
Read MoreNASA Kennedy Ground Systems Prepping Hardware for Artemis II, Beyond
Teams with NASA are gaining momentum as work progresses toward future lunar missions for the benefit of humanity as numerous flight hardware shipments from across the world arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first crewed Artemis flight test and follow-on lunar missions. The skyline at Kennedy will soon see added structures as teams build up the ground systems needed to support them. Crews are well underway with parallel preparations for the Artemis II flight, as well as buildup of NASA’s mobile launcher 2 tower for…
Read MoreNASA’s Kennedy Space Center Looks to Thrive in 2025
Photographers at NASA capture the sunset on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, near the headquarters building of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA/Ben Smegelsky As NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida wraps up a year that will see more than 90 government, commercial, and private missions launch from Florida’s Space Coast, a look to 2025 shows the missions, partnerships, projects, and programs at the agency’s main launch site will continue innovating, inspiring, and pushing the boundaries of exploration for the benefit of humanity. “The next year promises to be…
Read MoreNASA Kennedy Top 24 Stories of 2024
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…
Read MoreSix Ways Supercomputing Advances Our Understanding of the Universe
At NASA, high-end computing is essential for many agency missions. This technology helps us advance our understanding of the universe – from our planet to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Supercomputers enable projects across diverse research, such as making discoveries about the Sun’s activity that affects technologies in space and life on Earth, building artificial intelligence-based models for innovative weather and climate science, and helping redesign the launch pad that will send astronauts to space with Artemis II. These projects are just a sample of the many on display in…
Read MoreI am Artemis: Lane Polak
Lane Polak is a technical writer for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System), where he is responsible for creating content that raises public awareness of NASA and specifically SLS. NASA/Samuel Lott Growing up, Lane Polak didn’t have much interest in space. Instead, he was busy writing stories, doodling, or riding his skateboard. He later dreamed of becoming an author but also considered stepping into the arena as an American Gladiator. After earning a degree in communications with a minor in English from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Polak chose to…
Read MoreNew Hardware for Future Artemis Moon Missions Arrive at NASA Kennedy
On the left, the Canopee transport carrier containing the European Service Module for NASA’s Artemis III mission arrives at Port Canaveral in Florida, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, before completing the last leg of its journey to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout via truck. On the right, NASA’s Pegasus barge, carrying several pieces of hardware for Artemis II, III, and IV arrives at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39 turn basin wharf on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Credit: NASA From across the Atlantic Ocean and…
Read MoreNASA, Boeing Optimizing Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay for Future SLS Stage Production
NASA is preparing space at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for upcoming assembly activities of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for future Artemis missions, beginning with Artemis III. Teams are currently outfitting the assembly building’s High Bay 2 for future vertical assembly of the rocket stage that will help power NASA’s Artemis campaign to the Moon. During Apollo, High Bay 2, one of four high bays inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, was used to stack the Saturn V rocket. During the Space Shuttle Program, the…
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