Employees supporting Artemis were invited to attend an appreciation event, “The Road to the Moon,” at Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. On Thursday, Nov. 21, please join NASA employees and support service contractors for Artemis Friends and Family Day. Employees had the opportunity to hear from center leadership and see the Orion module that flew around the Moon and back during 2022’s Artemis I mission. Lockheed Martin presented an article flown on Artemis I to Robert Overy. Experts have subjected the spacecraft to extreme conditions in Armstrong’s test facilities. This significant testing is slated to wrap up in December, and we want to give you a chance to see the capsule before the conclusion of the test campaign. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

Employees at the Space Power Facility (SPF) at Plum Brook Station tested a new generation of Atlas/Centaur launch vehicles. General Dynamics conducted the tests December 22 and January 3, 1990 to determine the flight readiness of a new 14-foot diameter payload fairing. The fairing will accommodate new weather satellites, the U.S. Air Force Combined Release and Radiation Effects (CRRES) satellite, and other future payloads. At a simulated altitude of 85,000 feet, the cone-shaped fairing separated in half from a hinge at the bottom. Half of the fairing was then released from the test stack and recovered in a catch-net. The payload fairing separations were the first tests of major space hardware to be conducted in the SPF in more than 15 years.