Vehicle Assembly Building – Spaceflight Now

Core of NASA’s first Artemis moon rocket towed into Vehicle Assembly Building

April 29, 2021 Stephen Clark

A decade in the making, the core stage for NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday to join up with twin solid rocket boosters and an Orion capsule for an unpiloted test flight around the moon.

NASA barge delivers first SLS core stage to Kennedy Space Center

April 27, 2021 Stephen Clark

The core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday evening aboard a specially-built barge, completing a voyage by sea from a test site in Mississippi to begin final preparations for the first flight of NASA’s Artemis Moon program. Ground crews plan to transport the core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building beginning around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT) Thursday to join its two solid rocket boosters.

Stacking complete for SLS boosters

March 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The twin 177-foot-tall solid-fueled boosters for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System have been stacked inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center to await arrival of the rocket’s cryogenic core stage, which is set for a second engine test on a firing stand in Mississippi later this month.

NASA proceeds with SLS booster stacking in Florida before core stage arrives

January 15, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA ground crews at the Kennedy Space Center are continuing to stack segments of the Space Launch System’s side-mounted solid rocket boosters on a mobile launch platform inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building.

Northrop Grumman ends OmegA rocket program

September 14, 2020 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman says it will not continue development of the OmegA rocket after the U.S. Space Force last month picked United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as the military’s two top launch contractors over the next seven years.

Penultimate piece of NASA’s first SLS rocket arrives at Kennedy Space Center

August 14, 2020 Stephen Clark

One of the final pieces for the first test flight of NASA’s huge Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket recently arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, joining other elements already at the Florida spaceport awaiting shipment of the SLS core stage once it completes testing at a NASA facility in Mississippi.

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.

SLS pathfinder stage arrives at Florida launch site

October 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

SLS launch platform returns to pad 39B

September 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

SLS mobile launcher moves to pad 39B for final exams

June 28, 2019 Stephen Clark

A towering mobile platform for the agency’s Space Launch System arrived at launch pad 39B Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a sequence of water and propellant flow tests, swing arm checkouts and other rehearsals that should conclude with managers declaring the spaceport’s ground systems ready to support the first SLS launch campaign by the end of the year.