Space Launch System
134 articles
First SLS core stage departs factory
The heart of NASA's first flight-ready Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket emerged from its factory in New Orleans Wednesday morning for a barge trip to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for an eight-minute test-firing of its space shuttle-era hydrogen-fueled engines.
NASA declares first SLS core stage complete
NASA has declared assembly complete on the core stage for the first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket in New Orleans, signaling a long-awaited transition from manufacturing to testing as the core stage is set to move to the nearby Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for a hold-down firing next year of its four shuttle-era main engines.
Q&A with John Shannon, Boeing’s SLS vice president and program manager (members only)
In nearly five years on the job as Boeing's Space Launch System program manager, John Shannon has presided over the completion of the first SLS core stage inside a cavernous factory in New Orleans.
SLS pathfinder stage arrives at Florida launch site
A steel tube built as a stand-in for the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center for a series of rehearsals to hone the skills of technicians before the real rocket reaches the spaceport, an oft-delayed milestone that could still be a year or more away.
NASA taps Lockheed Martin to build six more Orion crew capsules
NASA announced Monday it will order at least six reusable Orion crew capsules from Lockheed Martin for $4.6 billion to fly astronauts to the vicinity of the moon in the 2020s, and the agency said it plans to purchase hardware for up to 12 Orion vehicles by 2030.
NASA still looking for new human spaceflight chief
NASA hopes to have a new leader for the agency's human spaceflight directorate by the end of the year to replace Bill Gerstenmaier, who held the post for nearly 14 years before his reassignment in July amid the Trump administration's push to land humans on the moon by 2024, a NASA official said Wednesday.
SLS launch platform returns to pad 39B
The towering mobile platform for NASA’s Space Launch System emerged from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday morning, returning to a seaside launch complex to complete tests interrupted by Hurricane Dorian last week.
Kennedy Space Center braces for Hurricane Dorian
NASA civil servants and the agency's contractor work force are bracing for high winds and rain from Hurricane Dorian, securing rocket stages, spacecraft assembly areas and even hauling a 6.7-million-pound mobile launch tower, designed for the huge rocket being built for the Artemis moon program, back to the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building for safekeeping.
NASA opts to go ahead with full-duration SLS core stage test-firing
After considering canceling a planned full-duration test-firing of the Space Launch System's core stage in Mississippi ahead of the heavy-lift rocket's first flight, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced this week that the agency will press ahead with the test next year, citing safety and reliability benefits for future astronauts riding on the launcher on missions to the moon.
First moon-bound Orion crew capsule declared complete, major tests remain
Teams working at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week connected a U.S.-built Orion crew module with its European-made power and propulsion element for the first time, a significant accomplishment ahead of the spacecraft's shipment to Ohio this fall for testing inside the world's largest vacuum chamber.