NASA’s Artemis II crew member NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman observes a news conference discussing the practice recovery procedures following the Underway Recovery Test (URT-11) aboard the USS San Diego on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket soars upward from the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday, June 5, 2024, carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. Aboard Starliner are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the first crewed flight of the spacecraft as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Two Intuitive Machines employees ready navigation pod sensors for the company’s Nova-C lunar lander in preparation for testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 18, 2022. The test involved flying the sensors over a simulated lunar surface at the Launch and Landing Facility on a private helicopter. Intuitive Machines is scheduled to launch two missions to the Moon in 2023 – one of which will carry NASA’s Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) instrument that will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. Through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, the agency selected Intuitive Machines to deliver science and technology demonstration payloads to the Moon, contributing to NASA’s goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
Kevin Smith, software team and science team liaison for NASA’s Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo), takes part in a joint simulation of the Peregrine One Mission on March 26, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where MSolo connected from inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to Astrobotic’s mission control facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and it will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. This was the first mission round of simulations for Peregrine Mission One to develop and refine procedures between Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander and MSolo. Later, there will be other simulations with multiple instruments. Peregrine Mission One will be one of NASA’s first Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service (CLPS) missions where under the Artemis program, commercial deliveries beginning in 2021 will perform science experiments, test technologies and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human missions.
The International Docking Adapter 3, a critical component for future crewed missions to the International Space Station, is carefully packed away in the unpressurized “trunk” section of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at the SpaceX facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 19. It will launch to the orbiting laboratory in July on the company’s 18th commercial resupply mission. The adapter will support future U.S. crewed vehicles visiting the station.
The Artemis plaque is attached to the wall in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a ceremony on March 24, 2023. Hanging the plaque on the wall are Elliot Payne (left) and Devin Aikman (right), members of the Arms and Umbilicals engineering team. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.
Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program move the right aft assembly, or bottom portion of the right solid rocket booster for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, into inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2024. The crane will lift the right aft assembly on top of mobile launcher 1, joining the previously stacked left aft assembly as the first booster segments stacked for the Artemis II Moon rocket.
Workers use a crane to lower the right-hand forward assembly for NASA’s Space Launch System onto the right-hand center forward segment on the mobile launcher (ML) in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on March 2, 2021. Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams are stacking the twin five-segment boosters on the ML over a number of weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the mobile launcher, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the SLS. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.
NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft – the agency’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization – arrives at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 5, 2021. IXPE is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on Dec. 9, 2021. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy. IXPE will study the polarization of X-rays coming to us from some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes and dead stars known as pulsars.
NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft – the agency’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization – arrives at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 5, 2021. IXPE is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on Dec. 9, 2021. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy. IXPE will study the polarization of X-rays coming to us from some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes and dead stars known as pulsars.
The European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, and was offloaded. Making the journey from the Airbus Facility in Bremen, Germany, aboard a Russian Antonov aircraft, the ESM will be transferred to Kennedy’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility. There, teams from NASA and Lockheed Martin will integrate the service module with the crew module adapter and crew module, already housed in the facility. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM will be used for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion. Teams with the European Space Agency and Airbus built the service module.
Inside the Space Life Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Dr. Eric Koch, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida, demonstrates preparations for bobtail squid on May 20, 2021, for a trip to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission. The experiment will examine the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts. Amimals, including humans, rely on microbes to maintain a healthy digestive and immune system. UMAMI is one of several experiments bound for the space station in the Dragon capsule atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A on June 3.
Technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida install and test antennas on a solar array on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, for the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft which will study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine if the planet has conditions that could support life. The REASON, (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument will use the antennas to send both High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio waves to penetrate up to 18 miles (30 kilometers) deep and search the ocean, measure ice thickness, and study the topography, composition, and roughness of Europa’s surface. The Europa Clipper spacecraft will ship to Florida later this year from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California in preparation for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A targeting October.
NASA’s Artemis II crew members (left to right) NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen finish suiting up in the well deck of the USS San Diego as NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the ship 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. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
Members of 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 during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. The team works to secure the Crew Module Test Article and align it on its stand inside the ship’s well deck. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
Teams offload NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, from a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft onto the flatbed of a heavy-lift truck at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Crews transported Europa Clipper to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy to prepare it for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket later this year from Launch Complex 39A at the Florida spaceport. Europa Clipper will help determine if conditions exist below the surface Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa, that could support life.
Dana Weigel, manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program, participates in a prelaunch briefing for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Friday, May 31, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.
A Mechanical and Environmental Testing Lab engineer examines samples at the corrosion engineering test site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 6, 2020. The corrosion lab is a network of people, equipment, and facilities that provides engineering services and technical innovations in all areas of corrosion for NASA and external customers.
The Hyperspectral Imager Suite (HISUI), a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) payload, is lifted off of its transporter in its shipping container at the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 25, 2019. The payload will be packed inside the external trunk of the SpaceX Dragon cargo module at Launch Complex 39A. HISUI will be delivered to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s 19th Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA in December 2019. HISUI is a spaceborne hyperspectral Earth Imaging System with a reflective telescope and two grating spectrometers.
From left to right, Shawn Quinn, manager, Exploration Ground Systems; Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director, Exploration Ground Systems; and Cliff Lanham, senior vehicle operations manager, Exploration Ground Systems, raise the Artemis flag near the countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, July 22, 2024. The flag raising marks the arrival of NASA’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) core stage via the agency’s Pegasus barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage will help power SLS when it launches four astronauts around the Moon for the first crewed flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II test flight.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore prepare to enter a crew transportation vehicle in front of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, as part of an integrated crew exercise simulation for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT). The integrated exercise involved participation from the flight crew, NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), and allowed teams to rehearse prelaunch operations beginning roughly four hours before a targeted liftoff. CFT will be the first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Starliner is scheduled to launch atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket no earlier than mid-April 2024.
From left to right, Cliff Lanham, senior vehicle operations manager, Exploration Ground Systems; Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director, Exploration Ground Systems; and Shawn Quinn, manager, Exploration Ground Systems, prepare to raise the Artemis flag near the countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, July 22, 2024. The flag raising marks the arrival of NASA’s massive SLS (Space Launch System) core stage via the agency’s Pegasus barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage will help power SLS when it launches four astronauts around the Moon for the first crewed flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II test flight.
The European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrived at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct 14, 2021. Earlier in the day the ESM arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy after making the journey from the Airbus Facility in Bremen, Germany, aboard a Russian Antonov aircraft. There, teams from NASA and Lockheed Martin will integrate the service module with the crew module adapter and crew module, already housed in the facility. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM will be used for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion. Teams with the European Space Agency and Airbus built the service module.
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Members of the Artemis launch team participate in a cryogenic simulation for Artemis II in Firing Room 1 inside the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Cryogenic simulations allow team members the opportunity to practice loading propellant – liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen – onto the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and make any necessary adjustments during countdown operations. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration through Artemis.
A butterfly sits in the palm of a visitor’s hand at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Kennedy kicked of its annual Earth Day celebrations with a sustainability expo at the visitor complex on April 11, 2019, where butterflies were released throughout the day. Approximately 40 exhibitors from across the nation assembled to provide information ranging from energy-saving solutions to wildlife and natural conservation.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for installation on the Artemis I spacecraft, technicians have extended one of the Artemis I solar array wings for inspection on Sept. 10, 2020, to confirm that it unfurled properly and all of the mechanisms functioned as expected. The solar array is one of four panels that will generate 11 kilowatts of power and span about 63 feet. The array is a component of Orion’s service module, which is provided by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus Defence and Space to supply Orion’s power, propulsion, air and water. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
Lt. Cmdr. Chloe Morgan, public affairs officer for Expeditionary Strike Group 3 U.S. Navy speaks during a news conference held in San Diego, California on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, about the Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) performed off the coast of San Diego, California. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission is photographed inside the Final Assembly and System Testing cell at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 15, 2024. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.
With the Vehicle Assembly Building in the background, the three specially designed, fully electric, environmentally friendly crew transportation vehicles for Artemis missions arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, 2023. The zero-emission vehicles, which will carry astronauts to Launch Complex 39B for Artemis missions, were delivered by the manufacturer, Canoo Technologies Inc. of Torrance, California.
Members of the Artemis launch team participate in a cryogenic simulation for Artemis II in Firing Room 1 inside the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Cryogenic simulations allow team members the opportunity to practice loading propellant – liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen – onto the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and make any necessary adjustments during countdown operations. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration through Artemis.
After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into the transfer aisle inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. In the coming months, SLS will be prepared for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II launch.
NASA’s Artemis II crew members (front to back) NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen descend the well deck of the USS San Diego as NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the ship 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. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program begin integrating the interim cryogenic propulsion stage to the SLS (Space Launch System) launch vehicle stage adapter on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four-story propulsion system, built by Boeing and ULA (United Launch Alliance), is powered by an RL10 engine that will enable the Orion spacecraft to build up enough speed for the push toward the Moon during the Artemis II crewed test flight.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls out from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, May 30, 2024, ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls out from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, May 30, 2024, ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.
Deborah Efua Adu Essumang, system lead scientist, conducts testing of the Volatile Monitoring Oxygen Measurement Subsystem (VMOMS) for Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) inside a laboratory in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 19, 2024. The high-temperature electrolytic process aims to extract oxygen from simulated lunar regolith which will be critical to the agency’s Artemis campaign. Oxygen extracted from the Moon can be utilized for propellent to NASA’s lunar landers, breathable oxygen for astronauts, and a variety of other industrial and scientific applications for NASA’s future missions to the Moon.
Seen here are science tubes containing soil and soil microbes for the Dynamics of Microbiomes in Space (DynaMoS) experiment after they’ve been prepared for flight to the International Space Station inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 11, 2022. The DynaMoS experiment will launch on SpaceX’s 25th cargo resupply services mission to examine how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. This will help NASA understand the function of soil microorganisms in space versus on Earth and how they can be used to enhance plant growth for crew consumption during long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are scheduled to lift off from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A at 8:44 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 14.
The Lucy spacecraft, encapsulated in its payload fairing, exits the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida on Oct. 7, 2021. The spacecraft will be transported to nearby Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The encapsulated spacecraft will be hoisted up and into the Vertical Integration Facility where it will be lowered down and secured on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V Centaur second stage. Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday, Oct. 16, on the ULA Atlas V 401 rocket from Launch Pad 41. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, America’s premier multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Additionally, Lucy’s path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft ever to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system.
Nathan Varn, Program Director Orion Productions for Lockheed Martin, discusses the Orion crew spacecraft for Artemis III during a tour for Artemis II crew members and their families of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman and Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen toured the facility with their families and viewed the Orion spacecraft for upcoming Artemis missions.
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, begin installing the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles will then drive them away.
The first of two solar arrays for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has been extended inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 20, 2023. Technicians are preparing to integrate the solar arrays to the Psyche spacecraft. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.
Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs TOSC workers completed painting of NASA’s iconic “worm” logo on the Artemis I Space Launch System twin solid rocket boosters on Sept. 23, 2020. Originally created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the iconic “worm” logo’s bold, sleek design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but has made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) is offloaded from a C-5M Super Galaxy transport aircraft onto the flatbed of a heavy-lift truck at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Crews transported the satellite to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida to prepare it for launch. Part of a collaborative NOAA and NASA program, GOES-U is the fourth in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites. Data from the GOES satellite constellation – consisting of the GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U spacecraft – enables forecasters to predict, observe, and track local weather events that affect public safety like thunderstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires.
Teams offload NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, from a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft onto the flatbed of a heavy-lift truck at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024. Crews transported Europa Clipper to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy to prepare it for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket later this year from Launch Complex 39A at the Florida spaceport. Europa Clipper will help determine if conditions exist below the surface Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa, that could support life.
In High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, right-hand and left-hand forward segments are secured on top of the center forward segments on the mobile launcher (ML) for the Space Launch System (SLS) on March 3, 2021. Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams completed the stacking of the boosters over several weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the ML, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the SLS. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.
The first-stage booster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flies down toward a landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich mission. The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission consists of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, which will be followed by its twin, the Sentinel-6B satellite, in 2025. The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission is part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, managed by the European Commission. Continuing the legacy of the Jason series missions, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will extend the records of sea level into their fourth decade, collecting accurate measurements of sea surface height for more than 90% of the world’s seas, and providing crucial information for operational oceanography, marine meteorology, and climate studies. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 PST (12:17 EST). NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.
Members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the USS San Diego participate in a ship rider briefing on the flight deck prior to departure from Naval Base San Diego on Feb. 21. During this test campaign, teams will practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article, during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, but the first time NASA and its partners from the Department of Defense put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
Testing of navigation pod sensors for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander is underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 18, 2022. The test involved flying the sensors over a simulated lunar surface at the Launch and Landing Facility on a private helicopter. Intuitive Machines is scheduled to launch two missions to the Moon in 2023 – one of which will carry NASA’s Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) instrument that will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. Through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, the agency selected Intuitive Machines to deliver science and technology demonstration payloads to the Moon, contributing to NASA’s goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
Janine Captain, principal investigator for NASA’s Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) takes part in a joint simulation of the Peregrine One Mission on March 26, 2021, where MSolo connected from inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Astrobotic’s mission control facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. MSolo is a commercial off-the-shelf mass spectrometer modified to work in space and it will help analyze the chemical makeup of landing sites on the Moon, as well as study water on the lunar surface. This was the first mission round of simulations for Peregrine Mission One to develop and refine procedures between Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander and MSolo. Later, there will be other simulations with multiple instruments. Peregrine Mission One will be one of NASA’s first Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Service (CLPS) missions where under the Artemis program, commercial deliveries beginning in 2021 will perform science experiments, test technologies and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon and prepare for human missions.
Members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team aboard the USS San Diego pose in front of a mockup of the Orion spacecraft during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
A full-scale mockup of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is on display at the News Center at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 29, 2020. The rover and Ingenuity helicopter are scheduled to launch July 30, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The rover will search for habitable conditions in the ancient past and signs of past microbial life on Mars. The Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket is photographed at the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, May 30, 2024, ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.
Exploration Ground Systems Manager Mike Bolger (left) and Artemis I Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (right) raise the Artemis flag near the countdown clock at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 14, 2022. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft can be seen in the background at Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B. The uncrewed Artemis I flight will be the first integrated test of the agency’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and is scheduled to launch Wednesday, Nov. 16. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by launching Orion atop the SLS rocket, operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. During the flight, Orion will launch atop the world’s most powerful rocket and fly farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever flown, paving the way for human deep space exploration and demonstrating our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond.
NASA Test Director Dan Florez watches the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft through the windows of Firing Room 1 in the Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center atop a mobile launcher as it rolls out of High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, ahead of the agency’s Artemis I flight test. The fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft is scheduled to liftoff on Monday, Aug. 29. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by launching Orion atop the SLS rocket, operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.
NASA’s Artemis II crew member CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen sits in a boat following practice recovery procedures during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission is photographed inside the Final Assembly and System Testing cell at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 15, 2024. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.
Members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the USS San Diego monitor operations of the day in the ship’s well deck and practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article, during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
The left aft assembly of the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II mission is moved from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. The aft assembly will be lifted atop the mobile launcher, followed by the right aft assembly and remaining booster segments.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the AVOCAT block bonding is complete on the Artemis II heat shield on July 2, 2020. The heat shield is one of the most critical elements of Orion and will protect the capsule and astronauts during reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. Artemis II is the first crewed mission in a series of missions to the Moon and on to Mars. Artemis II will confirm all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard. As part of the Artemis Program, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024.
The payload fairing containing NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is hoisted up at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Oct. 7, 2021. It will be lowered onto the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V Centaur second stage. Lucy is scheduled to launch no earlier than Saturday, Oct. 16, on the ULA Atlas V 401 rocket from Launch Pad 41. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, America’s premier multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch. Over its 12-year primary mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids, flying by one asteroid in the solar system’s main belt and seven Trojan asteroids. Additionally, Lucy’s path will circle back to Earth three times for gravity assists, making it the first spacecraft ever to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system.
Kennedy Space Center employees are working on assembling the flight hardware of NASA’s Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, or OSCAR – an Early Career Initiative project at the Florida spaceport that studies technology to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space. OSCAR would reduce the amount of space needed for waste storage within a spacecraft, turn some waste into gasses that have energy storage and life support applications and ensure waste is no longer biologically active. A prototype has already been developed, and a team of Kennedy employees are in the process of constructing a new rig for suborbital flight testing.
USS San Diego Commanding Officer Capt. David Walton speaks at a news conference held in San Diego, California on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, about the Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
An engineer with contractor Jacobs prepares for a modal tap test on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis I in a room under the zero deck of the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 16, 2021. The Exploration Ground systems and Jacobs team, along with the SLS team from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are performing the tests with support from personnel at other NASA centers. Engineers are using the mass simulator for Orion and the Orion stage adapter structural test article for the modal test. The tests will determine the different modes of vibration with the recently stacked and integrated SLS rocket before launch of the Artemis I mission. Artemis I will be an uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and establish sustainable lunar exploration.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technician Darlene Beville with ASRC Federal, inspects AVCOAT block bonding on the Artemis II heat shield on July 2, 2020. The heat shield is one of the most critical elements of Orion and will protect the capsule and astronauts during reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. Artemis II is the first crewed mission in a series of missions to the Moon and on to Mars. Artemis II will confirm all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard. As part of the Artemis Program, NASA will send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024.
Dave Flowers, the project manager for NASA’s Biology Experiment-1 (BioExpt-1) in Exploration Research and Technology Programs, prepares it for testing in the Vibration Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 13, 2021. BioExpt-1 is a space biology pathfinder, which will carry plants, algae, yeast, and fungi for biology research beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). NASA will install the BioExpt-1 payload container assembles onto panels inside the Orion capsule. BioExpt-1 will return these science payloads to Earth to provide critical and unique data about life beyond LEO for the first time in more than 40 years. Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and eventually on to Mars.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at 3:27 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 26, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida, carrying NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 crew members to the International Space Station. Aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft are NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. They will dock to the orbiting laboratory at about 8:40 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 27.
Liliana Villarreal, landing and recovery director in Exploration Ground Systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida speaks in a news conference held in San Diego, California on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, about the Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) performed off the coast of San Diego, California. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures in place with the astronauts.
A NASA team uncrates the twin solar arrays for the agency’s Psyche spacecraft at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 18, 2023. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.
Lead horticulturist LaShelle Spencer studies the use of 3D printed materials as media to grow plants at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 17, 2023. The activity is taking place inside the Plant Production Area at the Florida spaceport’s Space Station Processing Facility.
Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for installation on the Artemis I spacecraft, technicians have extended one of the Artemis I solar array wings for inspection on Sept. 10, 2020, to confirm that it unfurled properly and all of the mechanisms functioned as expected. The solar array is one of four panels that will generate 11 kilowatts of power and span about 63 feet. The array is a component of Orion’s service module, which is provided by the European Space Agency and built by Airbus Defence and Space to supply Orion’s power, propulsion, air and water. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, in preparation for the agency’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon, begin installing the first of four emergency egress baskets on the mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. The baskets, similar to gondolas on ski lifts, are used in the case of a pad abort emergency to enable astronauts and other pad personnel a way to quickly escape away from the mobile launcher to the base of the pad and where waiting emergency transport vehicles will then drive them away.
Solar arrays for the agency’s Psyche spacecraft is attached to a stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 18, 2023. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San, Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.
A member of the media reports near one of the aft skirts of the solid rocket booster segments inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The booster segments will help propel the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on the Artemis II mission to send four astronauts around the Moon as part of the agency’s effort to establish a long-term science and exploration presence at the Moon, and eventually Mars.
U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego pose in front of a mockup of the Orion spacecraft during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego, California on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
Members of the media take photos of the aft skirts of the solid rocket booster segments inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, July 23, 2024. The booster segments will help propel the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on the Artemis II mission to send four astronauts around the Moon as part of the agency’s effort to establish a long-term science and exploration presence at the Moon, and eventually Mars.
The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission is photographed inside the Final Assembly and System Testing cell at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 15, 2024. Four astronauts will venture around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis campaign.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is offloaded from the company’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, in Florida’s Port Canaveral on Saturday, March 9, 2019. Crew Dragon splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles off Florida’s east coast, at 8:45 a.m. EST on March 8, after undocking from the International Space Station at 2:32 a.m. As part of the Demo-1 mission, the uncrewed spacecraft docked to the orbiting laboratory on March 3, following a 2:49 a.m. EST liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 2. SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is the first flight test of a space system designed for humans built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership. NASA and SpaceX will use data from Demo-1 to further prepare for Demo-2, the crewed flight test that will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station later this year.
NASA researcher A.J. Jaffe prepares the NASA Airborne Instrumentation for Real-world Video of Urban Environments (AIRVUE) sensor pod for testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida in April 2024. The AIRVUE pod will be used to collect data for autonomous aircraft like air taxis, drones, or other Advanced Air Mobility aircraft.
Artemis team members gather around Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 24, 2023 for the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.
Dr. Joel Olson, subject matter expert, conducts testing of the Volatile Monitoring Volatile Monitoring Oxygen Measurement Subsystem (VMOMS) for Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) inside a laboratory in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 19, 2024. The high-temperature electrolytic process aims to extract oxygen from simulated lunar regolith which will be critical to the agency’s Artemis campaign. Oxygen extracted from the Moon can be utilized for propellent to NASA’s lunar landers, breathable oxygen for astronauts, and a variety of other industrial and scientific applications for NASA’s future missions to the Moon.
NASA’s Artemis II crew member NASA astronaut Christina Koch discusses the Underway Recovery Test (URT-11) during a news conference held in San Diego, California on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
NASA’s 2021 class of astronaut candidates pose for a photograph on the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building during a familiarization tour of facilities on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A crew transportation vehicle carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore drives past the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, as part of an integrated crew exercise simulation for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT). The integrated exercise involved participation from the flight crew, NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), and allowed teams to rehearse prelaunch operations beginning roughly four hours before a targeted liftoff. CFT will be the first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Starliner is scheduled to launch atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket no earlier than mid-April 2024.
Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs TOSC workers completed painting of NASA’s iconic “worm” logo on the Artemis I Space Launch System twin solid rocket boosters on Sept. 23, 2020. Originally created by the firm of Danne & Blackburn, the iconic “worm” logo’s bold, sleek design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programs. It was retired in 1992, but has made a comeback in 2020 as the agency ushers in a new, modern era of human spaceflight. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.
After completing its journey from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans aboard the Pegasus barge, teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) transport the agency’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into the transfer aisle inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. In the coming months, SLS will be prepared for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II launch.
Lt. Col. Kevin Pieper, First Air Force, Detachment 3 Artemis program director discusses the Underway Recovery Test (URT-11) during a news conference held in San Diego, California on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. URT-11 performed by NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team, partners from the Department of Defense, and U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS San Diego is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first the Artemis II recovery procedures involved the astronauts.
Jim Free, NASA associate administrator, participates in a prelaunch briefing for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Friday, May 31, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.
Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program move the right aft assembly, or bottom portion of the right solid rocket booster for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, into the Vehicle Assembly Building with the core stage at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2024. The right aft assembly will be lifted atop mobile launcher 1, joining the previously stacked left aft assembly as the first booster segments stacked for the Artemis II Moon rocket.
Technicians wearing Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble (SCAPE) suits and operations support personnel prepare for a test simulation of loading propellants into a replicated test tank for Orion on Aug. 16, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They are in a transport truck at the Multi-Operations Support Building near the Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF). Exploration Ground Systems is preparing for Artemis 1 with a series of hazardous hyper test events at the MPPF. The technicians will complete a tanking to test the system before Orion arrives for processing. During preparations for launch, these teams will be responsible for loading the Orion vehicle with propellants prior to transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be secured atop the Space Launch System rocket. SCAPE suits are used in operations involving toxic propellants and are supplied with air either through a hardline or through a self-contained environmental control unit.
A NASA team uses a crane to lift the twin solar arrays for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft up from their shipping base at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 18, 2023. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.
NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U (GOES-U) is offloaded from a C-5M Super Galaxy transport aircraft onto the flatbed of a heavy-lift truck at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Crews transported the satellite to the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida to prepare it for launch. Part of a collaborative NOAA and NASA program, GOES-U is the fourth in a series of four advanced geostationary weather satellites. Data from the GOES satellite constellation – consisting of the GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U spacecraft – enables forecasters to predict, observe, and track local weather events that affect public safety like thunderstorms, hurricanes, and wildfires.
The left aft assembly of the SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II mission is moved from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. The aft assembly will be lifted atop the mobile launcher, followed by the right aft assembly and remaining booster segments.
AFS-8/101
The European Service Module (ESM) for NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrives at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Making the journey from the Airbus Facility in Bremen, Germany, aboard a Russian Antonov aircraft, the ESM will be transferred to Kennedy’s Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility. There, teams from NASA and Lockheed Martin will integrate the service module with the crew module adapter and crew module, already housed in the facility. The powerhouse that will fuel and propel Orion in space, the ESM will be used for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission flying crew aboard Orion.
Artemis team members gather around Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 24, 2023 for the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.
Members of NASA’s Exploration Ground System’s Landing and Recovery team and partners from the Department of Defense aboard the USS San Diego monitor operations of the day in the ship’s well deck and practice recovery procedures using the Crew Module Test Article, during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11) off the coast of San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. URT-11 is the eleventh in a series of Artemis recovery tests, and the first time NASA and its partners put their Artemis II recovery procedures to the test with the astronauts.
In High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assist as the right-hand forward segment is lowered onto the center forward segment on the mobile launcher (ML) for the Space Launch System (SLS) on March 3, 2021. Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams stacked the twin five-segment boosters on the ML over a number of weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the mobile launcher, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the SLS. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams emerges from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, as part of an integrated crew exercise simulation for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT). Williams and fellow crew member Barry “Butch” Wilmore, along with NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), participated in the integrated exercise, which allowed teams to rehearse prelaunch operations beginning roughly four hours before a targeted liftoff. CFT will be the first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Starliner is scheduled to launch atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket no earlier than mid-April 2024.
The first-stage booster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich mission. The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission consists of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, which will be followed by its twin, the Sentinel-6B satellite, in 2025. The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission is part of Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, managed by the European Commission. Continuing the legacy of the Jason series missions, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS will extend the records of sea level into their fourth decade, collecting accurate measurements of sea surface height for more than 90% of the world’s seas, and providing crucial information for operational oceanography, marine meteorology, and climate studies. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich launched Nov. 21, 2020, at 9:17 PST (12:17 EST). NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.