Artemis – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

SLS booster segments arrive in Florida, but stacking on hold until core stage test

June 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

Fueled segments of the solid rocket boosters that will lift off on the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but officials will hold off on stacking the boosters until the SLS core stage completes a crucial test-firing later this year.

New NASA spaceflight chief makes no guarantees about 2024 moon landing goal

June 18, 2020 William Harwood

Kathy Lueders, NASA’s newly appointed head of human spaceflight operations, said Thursday that without a crystal ball, she could not give a yes-or-no answer when asked whether she believes NASA can put astronauts back on the moon by the end of 2024 as called for by the Trump administration.

Kathy Lueders named NASA chief of human spaceflight

June 12, 2020 William Harwood

Two weeks after the successful launch of two astronauts to the International Space Station, the director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has been promoted to chief of the agency’s human spaceflight directorate, a portfolio that includes the Artemis moon program, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Friday.

NASA signs Gateway habitat design contract with Northrop Grumman

June 9, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA has signed a $187 million contract with Northrop Grumman to complete the preliminary design of a pressurized crew habitat for the planned Gateway mini-space station near the moon, and agency officials have discussed new details about plans to launch first two Gateway modules on a single heavy-lift rocket.

NASA’s chief of human spaceflight resigns on cusp of critical crew launch

May 19, 2020 Stephen Clark

The head of NASA’s human spaceflight programs has abruptly resigned, announcing his departure from the space agency two days before before he was to chair a crucial readiness review ahead of the launch of the first crewed U.S. space mission in nearly a decade.

NASA will likely add a rendezvous test to the first piloted Orion space mission

May 18, 2020 Stephen Clark

Astronauts will likely perform a previously-unplanned demonstration of the Orion spacecraft’s deep space rendezvous capabilities in a high-altitude orbit around Earth on the crew capsule’s first piloted test flight, now scheduled for 2023.

NASA plans to launch first two Gateway elements on same rocket

May 6, 2020 Stephen Clark

Aiming to reduce risk and costs, NASA has decided to launch the first two modules of the Gateway station in lunar orbit on the same heavy-lift rocket in 2023, rather than fly them on separate rockets and dock them together in deep space, according to the the agency’s chief human spaceflight manager.

Hopeful for launch next year, NASA aims to resume SLS operations within weeks

May 1, 2020 Stephen Clark

With the Space Launch System’s inaugural test flight now officially delayed to November 2021, NASA says work halted by the coronavirus pandemic will resume within weeks to prepare for the first test-firing of the SLS core stage at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal

May 1, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company’s reusable Starship vehicle could be “game-changing” for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that “threaten the schedule viability” to achieve NASA’s goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024, agency officials said.

Companies release new details on human-rated lunar lander concepts

April 30, 2020 Stephen Clark

The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics — which won a combined $967 million in NASA funding Thursday — take wildly different approaches to carrying crews to the moon.