I Am Building SLS: Tim Flores

This is a monumental event. Like Apollo, it’s not just a NASA or an American achievement. It’s a humankind kind of achievement. That’s what I think about when I am managing a team to move a giant piece of the Space Launch System for the first time using mostly brand new equipment.

This rocket’s ability to carry crews and large cargos will take the world places we’ve never been before. But before it can do that, the pieces of the rocket have to be built, assembled and tested, and I help make that happen. As the integration manager for the SLS stages, I oversee all testing for the 212-foot tall core stage, the largest rocket stage ever built. It includes moving the core stage for the final test before launch, the green-run test at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi when all four RS-25 engines are fired at once for the full duration of a launch.

Before a rocket can soar to space, it is moved around on Earth, and we had to figure out how to do this. Even the Pegasus barge — which moved the space shuttle’s external tank from Michoud over to Kennedy — wasn’t strong enough to move the SLS core stage, so we made it longer and stronger. Everything we have that’s associated with moving and transporting the rocket is all special hardware. We can’t go buy this stuff off of the shelf.  To practice moving such large equipment, we developed a core stage pathfinder that replicates its size and weight. The pathfinder will be used to reduce risk by demonstrating our transportation and ground support equipment processes and fit check our interfaces in facilities and the barge. In addition, four large structural sections of the core stage have to be tested to ensure they are designed to survive the stress and strain of launch. My team moves the test articles by land and water to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the tests. To conduct the tests, we built test stands that changed the skyline of Huntsville.

There are many deadlines that have to be met to get hardware moved and tested on time, so one challenge for me is managing work and family life. I love spending time with my son. We go camping, fishing, and spend time outside away from computer screens.

Being part of building SLS and making space missions successful is an honor and a great legacy to hand down to my son.