It is full steam ahead at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as teams process and assemble flight hardware in preparation for the upcoming crewed Artemis III mission.
Less than three months after the safe return of the Artemis II crew, teams began stacking the twin SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket booster segments inside Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in July, beginning with the left-hand aft assembly. The remaining segments were shipped via train to Kennedy in June, and they will be inspected, processed, and coated at the center’s Rotation, Processing, and Surge Facility and then placed into lift stands for further processing. Upon completion, teams will transport each remaining booster segment from the facility to the VAB to stack on top of the mobile launcher that has undergone repairs since the agency’s Artemis II launch.
In parallel, SLS core stage processing is underway inside the VAB, and in May, teams connected the four-fifths rocket stage with its engine section. The first two RS-25 engines arrived at the VAB in June, and once all four engines arrive and are processed, teams will work to install them to complete the core stage for integration atop the mobile launcher and support testing and launch operations.
NASA Kennedy’s team began conducting monthly launch countdown simulations inside the Rocco Petrone Launch Control Center in May, which include practicing procedures for both loading propellant into the rocket and terminal countdown, or the last 10 minutes before launch. The team will continue rehearsing and refining procedures leading up to the mission’s launch.
Across the center inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, technicians attached the heat shie …