NASA’s Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Ready for Fueling, Processing

The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon has been on the move. Technicians relocated the spacecraft May 5 from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it was assembled, to its fueling facility at the spaceport.

“With the Artemis II mission on the horizon, seeing the Orion spacecraft depart the Operations and Checkout building for the Kennedy Space Center’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility reflects the many months of hard work, dedication, collaboration, and innovation of the entire team” said Howard Hu, NASA’s Orion program manager. “It demonstrates our ability to achieve ambitious goals to enable a safe and successful Artemis II mission. The Orion team was proud to turn over the first human-rated deep space exploration spacecraft in over 50 years to Exploration Ground Systems for fueling and stacking for our next mission to the Moon.”

Inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, engineers and technicians from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will load Orion’s propellants, high pressure gases, coolant, and other fluids the spacecraft and crew will need to maneuver and carry out their 10-day journey. Because of the hazardous nature of propellant loading, the spacecraft is fueled remotely from the spaceport’s Launch Control Center. After fueling is complete, the Artemis II crew will participate in an equipment interface test, in which they will don their Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits and enter the spacecraft to test all the equipment interfaces they will need to operate during the mission.

Following servicing and final checkouts, the spacecraft will be transported to Kennedy’s Launch Abort System Facility to be integrated with its launch abort system, which is made up of abort, jettison, and attitude control motors and fairings. The system is designed to carry the crew to safety in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Once completed, the spacecraft will be transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building to be stacked atop SLS.

Orion’s relocation marks completion of a phase of assembly and testing work for Orion and the beginning of key steps toward launch and mission preparations. While in the operations and checkout facility, thousands of components in Orion’s systems were integrated into the spacecraft. The crew module, service module, and crew module adapter were connected, and vacuum and acoustics testing occurred to ensure the spacecraft will be able to endure the harsh environment of space.

The Artemis II test flight will take commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) around the Moon and return them safely back home. The mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.

Quelle: NASA