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NASA Invites Media to View Super Guppy Picking up SLS Flight Hardware

The headshot image of Lee Mohon

Lee Mohon

Mar 27, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY18-011
NASA's Super Guppy
NASA’s Super Guppy will transport the Orion stage adapter for the first flight of the agency’s deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Built at Marshall, the Orion stage adapter will connect NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the interim cryogenic propulsion system, which will give the spacecraft its big, in-space boost to fly around the Moon in its first integrated flight with SLS. The adapter will journey on the Guppy in a cargo compartment that is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long and can carry up to 24 tons. The aircraft has a unique hinged nose that can open 110 degrees, allowing large pieces of cargo to be loaded and unloaded from the front. This is the Guppy’s second trip to Marshall to pick up SLS hardware following its first trip for the Orion stage adapter test article. Credits: NASA

Media are invited to view NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft as it picks up the flight version of the Orion stage adapter for NASA’s deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Tuesday, April 3, at Redstone Army Airfield. Media also will have the opportunity to interview NASA officials at the 10 a.m. CDT event.

The adapter, which was manufactured at Marshall, is the second piece of SLS flight hardware being delivered to Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it will be prepared for SLS’s first flight with NASA’s Orion spacecraft, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).

Media interested in covering the loading should contact Janet Anderson at 256-544-0034 or janet.l.anderson@nasa.gov no later than 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 28. For the purpose of pre-badging, media must supply the exact, full names of those who plan to attend.

Media will report to the Redstone Arsenal Joint Visitor Control Center at Gate 9, Interstate 565 interchange at Rideout Road/Research Park Boulevard no later than 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 3, for badging and security clearance. Media must provide one form of government-issued photo identification for badging. Proof of car insurance must be in the vehicle for access to the post. Media should wear pants and flat, closed-toe shoes.

Vehicles are subject to a security search at the gate. Photo identification and proof of car insurance is required.

The Super Guppy will deliver the Orion stage adapter to Kennedy on the same day.  The adapter will join Orion to the rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage that will give the spacecraft the push needed to go to deep space on EM-1. The stage was delivered to Kennedy last year. The Marshall-built adapter is approximately 5 feet tall and 18 feet in diameter, and will carry 13 small satellites  as secondary payloads on their own deep-space missions.

The Guppy has a cargo compartment that is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long and can carry more than 26 tons. The aircraft has unique hinged nose that can open more than 200 degrees, allowing large pieces of cargo to be loaded and unloaded from the front.

Video resources will be available on NASA’s Video and Imagery Library immediately following the event.

Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center
256-544-0034 or 256-724-0314
Janet.L.Anderson@nasa.gov