The launch abort motor, one of three motors that are key elements of Orion’s launch abort system, arrived on June 6, 2019, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and was delivered to the Launch Abort System Facility (LASF). The abort motor will be integrated with Orion subcomponents and prepared for NASA’s Artemis 1 mission.
The abort motor was manufactured by Northrop Grumman. The other motors that are part of the LAS are the attitude control motor and the jettison motor. All three motors are located on the launch abort tower. The LAS is designed to pull the Orion capsule and its crew away to safety if an emergency occurs during ascent of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
During Artemis 1, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch atop the SLS from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy. Orion will embark on an approximately three-week mission that will take the spacecraft thousands of miles past the Moon. Orion will return to Earth and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, where it will be retrieved and returned to Kennedy.
Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky