Tag: EM-2
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NASA looking at SLS certification schedule changes in ‘Drive to EM-1’
NASA is looking at deferring some programmatic certification activities until after the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) flight in addition to its other initiatives to shorten the schedule to the inaugural launch. The goal remains to find ways to move the launch date back into late 2020 from the current Spring 2021 forecast. In a May 15…
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Concerning Orion – Amid SLS push, Orion requires Life Support testing
While NASA pushes it Space Launch System (SLS) to make a mid-2020 debut, Orion also needs to find solutions to both match the realigned targets and achieve key objectives before the second flight with astronauts onboard. Most notably, the Orion Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) is set to make its full debut on the…
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Administration proposes the end of EUS while Administrator considers full Exploration manifest rewrite
Alongside last week’s Trump Administration budget proposal to cancel future Space Launch System (SLS) upgrades, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced additional changes are being considered which would overhaul the early manifest of Exploration flights. The Administration’s new budget proposes defunding the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) and related projects beginning with Fiscal Year 2020 that starts…
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Lockheed Martin assembling EM-2 structures for NASA’s first crewed Orion flight
While final assembly continues on the Orion spacecraft that will make the program’s first solo flight, the major pieces of the next spacecraft are being assembled alongside for the first crewed mission. A crew of four is planned to take the spacecraft on a Lunar flyby during the Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) test flight. The Crew…
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Lockheed Martin assembling EM-2 structures for NASA’s first crewed Orion flight
While final assembly continues on the Orion spacecraft that will make the program’s first solo flight, the major pieces of the next spacecraft are being assembled alongside for the first crewed mission. A crew of four is planned to take the spacecraft on a Lunar flyby during the Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) test flight. The Crew…
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Boeing starts final assembly for NASA’s first SLS Core Stage, work picks up for the second
Over the past month Boeing assembled the top half of the first Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage in a vertical stacking cell at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. The intertank, liquid oxygen (LOX) tank, and forward skirt were bolted together as the major part of the so-called “forward join” of the…
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“Plan D for Outer Space” — NASA updates EM-2 mission baseline
Coming off this year’s manifest changes to the early missions in NASA’s Exploration campaign, the outline and major parameters for the first crewed Orion flight were formally updated to reflect those big picture updates. Exploration Mission-2 is still a test flight to check out Orion with crew system upgrades and circumnavigate the Moon, but the…
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NASA moves to maintain SLS Core Stage work tempo, address schedule concerns in OIG report
Following NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) releasing a report on October 10 of their audit of the agency’s management of the Space Launch System (SLS) Stages contract, NASA has reacted by confirming they have already taken measures to assure that there is not a stoppage of work on the SLS Stages. The OIG concluded…
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Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems readies SRBs for first SLS flights
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems continues production of solid rocket booster (SRB) segments for the first launches of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at their Promontory Propulsion Systems facility in Northern Utah. Mixing of solid propellant for the SLS boosters and casting it in each of the ten segments for the second flight set is…
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Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems readies SRBs for first SLS flights
Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems continues production of solid rocket booster (SRB) segments for the first launches of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at their Promontory Propulsion Systems facility in Northern Utah. Mixing of solid propellant for the SLS boosters and casting it in each of the ten segments for the second flight set is…