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The People Bringing Orion to Life: The Launch Abort System

A powerful rocket, state-of-the-art equipment, and high-tech upgrades all play important roles in getting into space. Ensuring a spacecraft can perform flawlessly is no small task, and before liftoff, it’s people who bring it to life.

The Space Launch System (SLS), the world’s most powerful rocket, will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I mission. On future missions, Orion will carry astronauts to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe entry from deep space return velocities on Artemis missions.

NASA is working with a diverse group of industry and international partners to make this next-generation spacecraft a reality. Approximately 1,900 suppliers across the U.S. and Europe provide components for Orion. Lockheed Martin is the spacecraft’s prime contractor, and ESA (European Space Agency) oversees the development of Orion’s service module.

In this first of a three-part series highlighting the Orion workforce, NASA features a few of the people contributing to Orion’s launch abort system.

Safety First: The Launch Abort System (LAS)

Positioned at the top of Orion is the LAS, which is designed to carry the crew to safety in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent. The system’s three solid rocket motors work together to propel Orion – and astronauts inside – away from the rocket for a safe landing in the ocean.

Orion LAS Integration: OGIVE Installation - 0 degree
Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space center install the fourth and final ogive fairing for Orion’s launch abort system (LAS) inside the Launch Abort System Facility on Sept. 7, 2021. The ogives are protective panels that will shield the crew module from the severe vibrations and sounds it will experience during launch.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Northrop Grumman builds two of these motors: the abort motor that pulls the capsule away from the rocket, and the attitude control motor that steers and orients the capsule for landing.

Jocelyn Chu is a materials and process design engineer from Chino Hills, California, who works on the Northrop Grumman LAS team. In Promontory, Utah, she oversees testing on the internal insulation of the LAS, which protects the system’s structure from the intense heat created by the abort motor’s burn.

“The LAS is ultimately designed to save lives,” said Chu, who earned her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University. “That’s why it’s truly a privilege and an honor to be working on this system.”

The third motor is called the jettison motor and, unlike the other two motors, will be used during every launch whether an issue occurs or not. That’s because, even when everything goes according to plan, the LAS needs to safely separate from the crew module so Orion can continue on its mission.

Miriam Fedorchak is a structures engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne, the company that builds the jettison motor. The Los Angeles native earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State University, Northridge, her master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California, and is currently pursuing a management degree from the Harvard Extension School. At Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Canoga Park, California facility, she helped design the motor to ensure that it can handle the tough loads and environments of launch.  

“Our job is to make sure things don’t break,” she said. However, the work of the LAS team goes far above and beyond that.

“My team is based in Los Angeles, but we provide enterprise-wide support,” Fedorchak said. “I worked with our team members in Sacramento, California, and Redmond, Washington on the jettison motor as well. It was a highlight to collaborate with folks across the country, and to all come together and meet face-to-face during hot fire testing of the motor.”

Yet another team, led by Lockheed Martin, assembles the LAS after the motors are built. This includes Lisa Akers, the lead manufacturing engineer assembling the LAS for Artemis I at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Originally from Bluefield, West Virginia, Akers attended the U.S. Air Force Academy for her bachelor’s degree in English literature and general engineering. She also received a Master of Engineering degree in space operations from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

“The LAS has to work perfectly every time to bring astronauts home safely,” said Akers, currently the chief engineer for Orion production operations. “It’s a small crew that assembles the system, and everything we do plays an important role in a successful Artemis launch.”

Look out for next week’s feature, highlighting the people bringing Orion’s crew module to life, at: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html