The Orion spacecraft, which will fly four people around the moon, arrived late Thursday night at the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ready to be stacked onto the rocket for launch early next year.
The overnight transfer covered approximately 6 miles from one facility to another at the Florida spaceport. NASA and its contractors are continuing preparations for the Artemis II mission after the White House approved the program as an exception to weather the ongoing government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
The continued work could see Artemis II launch as early as February 5 next year. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be the first people to fly on the Orion spacecraft, a vehicle that has been in development for nearly two decades. The Artemis II crew will make history during their ten-day flight by becoming the first humans to travel to the lunar vicinity since 1972.
Where things stand
The Orion spacecraft, developed by Lockheed Martin, has made several stops at Kennedy in recent months since leaving the factory in May.
First, the capsule was moved to a refueling facility, where technicians filled it with hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, which will fuel Orion's main engine and thrusters during the flight to the moon and back. At the same facility, teams loaded high-pressure helium and ammonia coolant into Orion's propulsion and thermal control systems.
The next stop was a nearby building where the Launch Abort System was installed on the Orion spacecraft. The tower-like abort system would pull the capsule away from its rocket in the event of a launch failure. Orion is approximately 20 meters tall with its service module, crew module and abort tower integrated together.
Teams at Kennedy also installed four ogee panels to serve as an aerodynamic shield over the Orion crew capsule during the first few minutes after launch.
The Orion spacecraft, with its Launch Abort System and ogive panels installed, was seen last month at the Launch Abort System Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
Then it was time to move Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where a separate team worked all year to stack the elements of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. In the coming days, cranes will lift the 35-ton spacecraft dozens of stories above the VAB's center aisle, then over the transom into the building's northeast high bay to be lowered atop the SLS heavy-lift rocket.
