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Exploration Ground Systems

    Mobile Launcher Rolls Back to Launch Pad 39B

    The mobile launcher for NASA's Artemis missions rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 10, 2019, after spending a week and a half inside due to the approach of Hurricane Dorian.

    The mobile launcher for NASA’s Artemis missions rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 10, 2019, after spending a week and a half inside due to the approach of Hurricane Dorian. The nearly 400-foot-tall structure was moved from Launch Pad 39B to the VAB for safekeeping …

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    Bragging Rights for Mobile Launcher Lifters and Iron Workers

    A crane lifts the second of two tail service mast umbilicals up for installation on the 0-level deck of the mobile launcher on July 27, 2018, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    Operating a heavy-lift crane and working with some of the strongest metals on Earth takes precise diligence, skill and patience. Bragg Crane & Rigging Co. of Long Beach, California, has worked in the industry since 1946, and its team members embody these skills each day as they lift and weld a launch structure that will …

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    Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility Ready for Artemis 1

    A booster lift in the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will receive the solid rocket booster segments for final assembly of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The agency’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team successfully completed the system acceptance review and operational readiness review for the facility on July 25, 2019. …

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    Mobile Launcher’s Crew Access Arm Successfully Tested

    Crew Access Arm Testing

    As astronauts prepare for trips to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, their last steps before boarding an Orion spacecraft will be across the Crew Access Arm (CAA) on the mobile launcher. Earlier this year, the CAA was added to the mobile launcher being prepared to support NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the …

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    Engineers Mark Completion of Umbilical Testing at Launch Equipment Test Facility

    A banner signing event was held at the Launch Equipment Test Facility.

    The team that tested the umbilical lines and launch accessories that will connect from the mobile launcher (ML) to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Exploration Mission-1 celebrated their achievement during a banner signing at the Launch Equipment Test Facility (LETF) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and …

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    Chilling Out During Liquid Oxygen Tank Test

    The liquid oxygen tank at Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) chilled out recently with a pressurization test of the liquid oxygen (LO2) tank at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida – Pad 39B, recently upgraded by the EGS team for the agency’s new Space Launch System rocket. The six-hour test of the giant sphere checked for leaks …

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    Last of the Big Swing Arm Umbilicals Installed on Mobile Launcher

    The ICPSU is installed on the mobile launcher tower at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    Nearly the last of several large connection lines, called umbilicals, was installed on the mobile launcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The umbilical was lifted by crane and attached high on the tower of the mobile launcher at about the 240-foot level, bringing the steel structure one step closer to supporting processing and …

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    NASA Recovery Team Completes Orion Underway Recovery Test 6 in Pacific Ocean

    A test version of the Orion capsule is pulled into the well deck of the USS Anchorage during Underway Recovery Test 6.

    NASA’s Recovery Team from Kennedy Space Center just finished a week at sea, testing and improving their processes and ground support hardware to recover astronauts in the Orion capsule once they splash down in the Pacific Ocean. Aboard the USS Anchorage, NASA and the U.S. Navy worked together to run through different sea conditions, time …

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