Teams responsible for preparing and launching Artemis II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set to begin a series of integrated tests to get ready for the mission. With the upper stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) integrated with other elements of the rocket, engineers are set to start the tests […]
Category: Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle
NASA’s First Flight With Crew Important Step on Long-term Return to the Moon, Missions to Mars
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under Artemis. Astronauts on their first flight aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft will confirm all of the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the actual environment of deep space. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon […]
NASA Trains for Orion Water Recovery Ahead of Artemis II Launch
Preparations for NASA’s next Artemis flight recently took to the seas as a joint NASA and Department of Defense team, led by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program, spent a week aboard the USS Somerset off the coast of California practicing procedures for recovering the Artemis II spacecraft and crew. Following successful completion of Underway Recovery Test-12 […]
NASA’s Artemis II Orion Service Module Buttoned Up for Launch
Technicians with NASA and Lockheed Martin fitted three spacecraft adapter jettison fairing panels onto the service module of the agency’s Orion’s spacecraft. The operation completed on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The European-built service module is the powerhouse that will […]
Engineers Install Orion Solar Array Wings for Artemis II
Technicians with ESA (European Space Agency) and Airbus installed the four solar array wings on NASA’s Orion spacecraft for Artemis II on March 3. The solar array wings, attached to the service module, deploy after Orion reaches space to power the spacecraft. Orion’s service module provides propulsion, thermal control, and electrical power, as well as […]