Tag Archives: Space Launch System

NASA's Kennedy Space Center has accepted delivery of hardware that would help personnel prepare for the Space Launch System's first Moon mission with the Orion spacecraft. The space agency said Saturday it will use the core stage pathfinder to train lift crews in handling hardware of the SLS rocket. Pathfinders are full-scale mock-up models that have the shape and size of their corresponding SLS components.

The Senate Appropriations’ commerce, justice and science subcommittee passed a spending bill that would authorize $22.75 billion in fiscal year 2020 funds for NASA, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

NASA has connected the five main components of the Space Launch System launch vehicle's core stage in preparation for a flight to the moon in 2024. The space agency said Friday that it conjoined the last sections of the core stage on Thursday at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

The Government Accountability Office has assessed the scheduling of NASA’s efforts to manage major human space exploration systems. GAO said Wednesday that it's looking into the space agency’s development activities of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System rocket and Exploration Ground Systems.

Vice President Mike Pence said during a National Space Council meeting that NASA is on track towards Artemis, the space agency's upcoming Moon exploration mission, Space News reported Tuesday. 

NASA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Jim Bridenstine will meet with members of the Space Launch System (SLS) program on Thursday, Aug. 15th to discuss and view progress on the rocket and take questions from media at 11:30 a.m. CDT in front of SLS's 212-foot-tall core stage. 

NASA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Jim Bridenstine said in a statement that the agency will push through with static-fire tests of the Space Launch System which will support the planned 2024 moon mission, Space News reported Thursday. “The Green Run acceptance test gives NASA the confidence needed to know the new core stage will perform again and again as it is intended,” noted Lisa Bates, SLS deputy stages manager at NASA.

Lisa Watson-Morgan, a three-decade NASA veteran, has been appointed manager of a program to facilitate the development of a lunar lander to support manned missions to the moon by 2024 as part of the space agency’s Artemis program. NASA said Monday that Watson-Morgan will oversee the development and testing of landing platforms and manage the integration of such systems with the Orion crew vehicle as part of her duties as Human Landing System program manager.

Jim Bridenstine, an administrator at NASA, said the agency is working to validate potential costs for the Artemis crewed lunar exploration mission, Space News reported Wednesday. Bridenstine noted that the mission will cost between $20B to $30B and expenses may reach below the said range depending on the amount of contributions from commercial firms.

NASA and Boeing have assembled 80 percent of the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket to bring the Orion spacecraft to the moon as part of the Artemis 1 mission. The agency said Monday that the milestone comes after crews connected the hydrogen fuel tank to the SLS core stage’s upper part, which consists of the intertank, liquid oxygen propellant tank and the forward skirt housing the rocket’s flight computers.