SLS Roll-out

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#41 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed Nov 09, 2022 4:19 pm

NASA moon rocket launch delayed again as storm approaches Florida coast
Fuel leaks have grounded the rocket since August, while Hurricane Ian forced it back to the hangar at Kennedy Space Center at the end of September.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/na ... -rcna56328

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — NASA is again postponing the launch of its new moon rocket because of a storm threatening the Florida coast.

Fuel leaks have kept the rocket grounded since August. Then Hurricane Ian forced the rocket back to the hangar at Kennedy Space Center at the end of September.

The rocket was moved back to the launch pad last week, and NASA was aiming for a launch attempt early Monday.

But on Tuesday, the space agency said it was delaying the launch until at least next Wednesday because of Tropical Storm Nicole, which is expected to hit Florida’s Atlantic coastline as a Category 1 hurricane over the next few days.


The space center is under a hurricane warning but NASA is keeping the rocket at the launch pad. NASA said the rocket is designed to withstand heavy rains and high wind.

The $4.1 billion mission will send an empty crew capsule around the moon and back in a flight test before astronauts climb aboard in a couple years. It is NASA’s biggest step yet to get astronauts back on the moon by 2025.

The space agency is nearing the 50th anniversary of its last human moon landing: Apollo 17 in December 1972.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#42 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:37 pm

NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket is go for launch on Nov. 16. Here's how to watch it live.
Liftoff of NASA's $4.1 billion mega moon rocket is set for Nov. 16 at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT).

Any bets that this will actually go? :-?

https://www.space.com/nasa-artemis-1-mo ... watch-live

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The countdown has begun for the launch of NASA's beleaguered Artemis 1 moon mission.

Despite some concerns over the damage the $4.1-billion-dollar Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle and Orion spacecraft experienced due to Hurricane Nicole, NASA is moving forward with its current launch attempt. Artemis 1 is currently counting down to a two-hour launch window which begins on Wednesday (Nov. 16) at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT). You can watch the launch live online here on Space.com courtesy of NASA.

Live event coverage of the Artemis 1 countdown and launch will air on Space.com courtesy of NASA Television, the NASA mobile app(opens in new tab), and the agency's official website(opens in new tab). Broadcasting of prelaunch activities starts at 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) when the agency begins the Space Launch System's cryogenic fueling process.

Artemis 1 was originally scheduled to launch in late August, but glitches with fueling caused a one-month delay. Then came Hurricane Ian, which caused further delays as NASA rolled the Artemis 1 SLS stack off of Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the shelter of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). After being rolled out to the pad once more on Nov. 4, SLS then had to weather Hurricane Nicole, which subjected the vehicle to high winds while it weakened to a tropical storm shortly after landfall.

Despite the fact that the SLS vehicle and Orion spacecraft experienced some slight damage during Hurricane Nicole, NASA officials are confident in their decision to aim for the Nov. 16 launch attempt. "There's no change in our plan to attempt to launch on the 16th," Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager at NASA headquarters in Washington, said during a media teleconference Monday (Nov. 14) after performing analyses of the damage.

One of the chief areas of concern is a thin strip of insulative caulking known as RTV that smooths out a small groove encircling the Orion spacecraft in order to prevent undesirable airflow and heating during flight. A section of RTV was torn loose by Nicole's winds, and there are now worries that more could shake loose during liftoff and create a debris hazard for SLS.

The Artemis 1 mission team has been analyzing the risks associated with the damaged RTV at the same time the massive countdown timer here at KSC continues to tick down to the Nov. 16 launch window.

"The unanimous recommendation for the team was that we were in a good position to go ahead and proceed with the launch countdown," Jeremy Parsons, deputy manager of NASA's Exploration Ground Systems program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said during a media teleconference on Monday (Nov. 14).

Artemis 1 will be the maiden voyage for SLS, and the second flight for the Orion capsule after a test flight atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2014. If all goes according to plan, the mission will be the first in NASA's new lunar exploration program that will see astronauts orbit the moon with a crewed Artemis 2 launch in 2024, and will put humans back on the moon near the lunar south pole with Artemis 3 in 2025 or 2026.

Artemis 1 will last nearly 26 days when it launches, ending with the Orion capsule splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after reentering Earth's atmosphere at 25,000 mph (40,200 km/h).

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#43 Post by Karearea » Wed Nov 16, 2022 5:38 am

Artemis I Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast) - Nov. 16, 2022 live now:

And with the morn, those angel faces smile...

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#44 Post by Woody » Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:54 am

For those,like me that missed the big moment ~X(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science ... t-62778868
When all else fails, read the instructions.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#45 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Nov 16, 2022 10:37 am

Woody wrote:
Wed Nov 16, 2022 7:54 am
For those,like me that missed the big moment ~X(

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science ... t-62778868

Well, so they finally got off the ground, despite a late fuel leak, which was fixed and a faulty network link. Let's hope they recover the capsule safely, as I am sure a number of potential astronauts are watching this mission with some interest, if not, trepidation.
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#46 Post by TheGreenAnger » Wed Nov 16, 2022 10:41 am

Just listen to that baby!

My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#47 Post by Boac » Wed Nov 16, 2022 10:43 am

TLI burn is now complete.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#48 Post by Boac » Thu Dec 01, 2022 10:23 pm

Orion has begun its return to earth with a de-orbit burn from the lunar retrograde orbit. A bit of jiggling about around the moon for a few days and due back on earth on 11/12

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#49 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sun Dec 11, 2022 4:11 pm

Artemis I splashdown coverage.

It’s set to splash down at 12:40 p.m. ET Sunday in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California. NASA will air live coverage of the event, beginning at 11 a.m. ET Sunday.
1740Z

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

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Artemis II Mission Crew Named

#50 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:02 pm

The four astronauts NASA selected for historic moon flyby mission

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/world/ar ... index.html

Members of the crew who will helm the first moon mission in five decades were revealed on Monday, queuing up the quartet to begin training for their historic lunar flyby that is set to take off in November 2024.

The astronauts are NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

Wiseman is a 47-year-old decorated naval aviator and test pilot who was first selected to be a NASA astronaut in 2009. He’s completed one prior spaceflight, a 165-day trip to the International Space Station that launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket in 2014. Most recently, Wiseman served as chief of the astronaut office before stepping down in November 2022, making him eligible for a flight assignment.

Hansen, 47, is a fighter pilot who was selected by the Canadian Space Agency for astronaut training in 2009. He is one of only four active Canadian astronauts, and he recently became the first Canadian to be put in charge of training for a new class of NASA astronauts.

Glover is a 46-year-old naval aviator who returned to Earth from his first spaceflight in 2021 after piloting the second crewed flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and spending nearly six months aboard the International Space Station. The veteran of four spacewalks earned a master’s degree in engineering while moonlighting as a test pilot.

Christina Koch, 44, is a veteran of six spacewalks. She holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, with a total of 328 days in space. Koch is also an an electrical engineer who helped develop scientific instruments for multiple NASA mission. She’s also spent a year at the South Pole, an arduous stay that could well prepare her for the intensity of a moon mission.

About this mission
The Artemis II mission will build on Artemis I, an uncrewed test mission that sent NASA’s Orion capsule on a 1.4 million-mile voyage to lap the moon that concluded in December. The space agency deemed that mission a success and is still working to review all the data collected.

If all goes to plan, Artemis II will take off around November 2024. The crew members, strapped inside the Orion spacecraft, will launch atop a NASA-developed Space Launch System rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The journey is expected to last about 10 days and will send the crew out beyond the moon, potentially further than any human has traveled in history, though the exact distance is yet to be determined.

The “exact distance beyond the Moon will depend on the day of liftoff and the relative distance of the Moon from the Earth at the time of the mission,” NASA spokesperson Kathryn Hambleton said via email.

After circling the moon, the spacecraft will return to Earth for a splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Artemis II is expected to pave the way for the Artemis III mission later this decade, which NASA has vowed will put the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface. It will also mark the first time humans have touched down on the moon since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

The Artemis III mission is expected to take off later this decade. But much of the technology the mission will require, including spacesuits for walking on the moon and a lunar lander to ferry the astronauts to the moon’s surface, is still in development.

NASA is targeting a 2025 launch date for Artemis III, though the space agency’s inspector general has already said delays will likely push the mission to 2026 or later.

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Boeing Sued Over SLS

#51 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:05 pm

Boeing sued for allegedly stealing intellectual property related to NASA's Artemis moon rocket
By Josh Dinner published about 24 hours ago
The suit alleges Boeing's improper use of stolen technology put astronauts' lives at risk and led to ongoing SLS launch delays.

https://www.space.com/artemis-sls-boein ... SmartBrief

A federal lawsuit has been brought against Boeing accusing the aerospace giant of intellectual property (IP) theft, conspiracy and misuse of critical components involved in assembling NASA's Artemis moon rocket.

The complaint was filed in a Seattle, Washington federal court on Wednesday (June 7) and attests that Boeing's attempted replication of Colorado-based Wilson Aerospace's technology was the cause of leaks aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and the source of last year's hydrogen leaks during repeated attempts to fuel and launch NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for its Artemis 1 mission. The full complaint can be read online here.

In a press statement, Wilson Aerospace president and founder David Wilson, Jr., added that "Boeing has not only stolen our intellectual property and damaged our company's reputation but has used the technology incorrectly and at the expense of astronauts' safety, which is beyond despicable."

Family-owned Wilson Aerospace has been manufacturing tools and components for NASA missions for almost three decades, and has provided services for other major projects including the Hubble Space Telescope, the ISS, a handful of space shuttle missions, Boeing's Dreamliner aircraft and Russia's Mir space station  —  not to mention NASA's SLS rocket for the agency's Artemis program.

Wilson Aerospace says it was contracted by Boeing in 2014 to provide tools for installing the engines to SLS, the backbone of the agency's Artemis program of planned moon missions. A press release issued by Wilson Aerospace's lawyers states that Boeing obtained proprietary information from the company before terminating Wilson's contracts and then producing their own versions of Wilson's tools that were "critically deficient in quality and performance."

Worse, the suit claims, because Boeing covertly stole Wilson's intellectual property without receiving the full instructions on how to properly build, install, and use it, several of the aerospace and aviation products built by Boeing are pockmarked with critical safety flaws that allegedly put lives at risk. This includes the astronauts, pilots, crewmembers and passengers who come aboard vehicles built by Boeing without knowledge of the unsafe equipment and vehicles manufactured by or at the direction of the aerospace giant.

Fuel leaks and valve issues plagued SLS throughout 2022, which Wilson's complaint directly attributes to the intellectual property theft it accuses Boeing of engaging in. The complaint reads that "Boeing's theft of Wilson's intellectual property rights for tools intended to support the SLS project resulted in mismatching Wilson's designed components with components designed by Boeing and its co-conspirators which led to inferior products being used to tighten fittings and valves."

After four attempts to get SLS off the ground, Artemis 1 launched on an historic mission to the moon and back on November 17, 2022. Despite the mission's success, the Artemis program has been plagued by accusations of mismanagement.

Wilson Aerospace's complaint goes further than the SLS program. The company accuses Boeing of an "alarming pattern" of subterfuge and theft of competitors' IP, and cites instances where Boeing duplicated Wilson's flagship design, the Fluid Fitting Torque Device (FFTD), dating as far back as 2001, when Boeing ordered and allegedly misused an FFTD-1 for use tightening fittings on the first U.S. segment of the ISS, the Harmony module.

The complaint also cites a $615 million settlement to resolve allegations that Boeing stole competitors' information to secure billions of dollars worth of launch contracts from the space agency and U.S. Air Force.

The introduction to Wilson's suit reads, in part, that "Boeing's theft of Wilson's intellectual property enabled it to capture incredible sums in unlawful revenue on aerospace contracts with NASA and commercial aviation projects."

When asked to comment on the lawsuit, a Boeing spokesperson said that the lawsuit is inaccurate and omits key information. "We will vigorously defend against this in court," they added.



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Re: SLS Roll-out

#52 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Sep 08, 2023 3:07 am

NASA’s mega moon rocket is ‘unaffordable,’ according to accountability report

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/world/na ... index.html

Senior NASA officials say that the agency’s Space Launch System — the massive rocket designed to propel its ambitious Artemis program to establish a base on the moon — is “unaffordable,” according to a report Thursday from the US Government Accountability Office.

The report, which breaks down SLS program expenditures, makes the striking admission that senior NASA officials deem the rocket to be unsustainable “at current cost levels,” and it criticizes what the GAO said is a lack of transparency into the program’s ongoing costs. The report does not name which officials — or how many — at NASA made such claims.

A spokesperson at NASA’s headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, the GAO report does state that NASA “recognizes the need to improve the affordability.”

“With input from NASA management, the SLS program has developed a roadmap outlining short-term and long-term strategies that it hopes will result in future cost savings,” the report said.

NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Artemis I mission is the first integrated flight test of the agency's deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and ground systems. SLS and Orion launched at 1:47 a.m. EST, from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
After a historic first mission, what does the future hold for this controversial rocket?
That plan includes efforts to “stabilize the flight schedule,” increase efficiencies, “encourage innovation” and “adjust acquisition strategies to reduce cost risk,” according to GAO.

The SLS rocket is at the core of NASA’s Artemis program, the agency’s flagship effort to return humans to the surface of the moon later this decade that also involves various exploratory and science missions aimed at establishing a permanent lunar settlement.

The first test launch of SLS, in a mission dubbed Artemis I, took off November 16 after years of delays. The mission, though behind schedule, was regarded as a spectacular success, setting NASA up to launch its first crewed test mission around the moon in late 2024. That’s expected to be followed by Artemis III, the first attempt to return American astronauts to the moon since the Apollo program.

But the Artemis I success has not insulated NASA from the program’s critics.

Government watchdogs, including the GAO and NASA’s inspector general, have repeatedly blasted the space agency’s SLS program in reports dating back to 2014, as the GAO spelled out in its latest documents. The GAO is an investigative branch of the US government charged with overseeing public spending.

Much of the criticism levied by those watchdogs has focused on contracting issues, such as cost overruns with the SLS program’s primary contractors. The watchdogs have also reported transparency issues, saying NASA has not given all-in cost estimates for scheduled Artemis launches or done enough to attempt to break down ongoing expenses for the program.

The GAO report also noted that it had suggested to NASA in 2014 that the agency should “develop a cost baseline that captures production costs” for missions using SLS Block I — or the first version of the rocket that is expected to pave the way for larger, more powerful versions in the development pipeline. But while NASA “partially concurred,” the agency “has not yet implemented this recommendation,” the GAO report said.

The report found that the space agency “does not plan to measure production costs to monitor the affordability of its most powerful rocket.”

In addition to the nearly $12 billion already spent developing the SLS rocket, NASA asked for more than $11 billion in its most recent budget request to fund the program for the next four years, according to the report.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#53 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:54 am

NASA expected to announce ‘months-long delay’ for crewed Artemis moon mission

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/world/na ... index.html

NASA leadership is expected on Tuesday to announce a “months-long delay” to the first crewed mission of the agency’s flagship Artemis program, according to one current and one former NASA employee.

The delay affects NASA’s Artemis II mission, which aims to send four astronauts on a journey to fly by the moon and was slated to lift off this November.

But the mission is no longer expected to take place before 2025, according to the sources, confirming months of speculation that a delay was imminent.

NASA’s Inspector General hinted at potential delays for the mission in a November report, citing three main challenges the space agency must address before it can safely fly humans to the moon.

First, the ground structure used to build, transport and launch the program’s massive Space Launch System rocket — dubbed Mobile Launcher 1 — “sustained more damage than expected.”

The November report stated that repairs to the structure were ongoing.

Second, the heat shield on the Orion spacecraft — intended to be the astronauts’ home on Artemis II — “eroded in an unexpected way” during Artemis I as it was exposed to temperatures about half as hot as the surface of the sun upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Finally, the Inspector General noted what NASA officials believed to be “the primary critical path” for the Artemis II mission: preparing Orion for its first crew and integrating it with the European Service Module, which provides power and propulsion. The “critical path” in project planning refers to the aspect of the mission that’s expected to take the longest.

Artemis goals
The Artemis II mission was slated to build upon the successful completion of the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed test flight that sent NASA’s Orion capsule on a 1.4 million-mile voyage to lap the moon. That journey concluded in December 2022.

The Artemis II mission is set to be the first time humans will orbit the moon since the end of the Apollo program. The crew, announced in April, includes NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The journey is expected to last about 10 days and will send the crew out beyond the moon, potentially farther into space than any human has ever traveled, though the exact distance is yet to be determined.

Artemis II is expected to pave the way for the Artemis III mission later this decade, which NASA has vowed will put a woman and person of color on the lunar surface for the first time. It will also mark the first time humans have touched down on the moon since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

NASA has been targeting a 2025 launch date for Artemis III, though the space agency’s inspector general has already said delays will likely push the mission to 2026 or later.

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Re: SLS Roll-out

#54 Post by PHXPhlyer » Tue Jan 09, 2024 8:14 pm

It's Official
NASA delays Artemis moon missions

The space agency said that it is now targeting September 2025 for its crewed missions around the moon, which had been slated for later this year.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/n ... rcna133126

NASA’s efforts to return astronauts to the moon have been delayed — again.

The agency announced Tuesday that its next Artemis mission, which was to send three astronauts on a flight around the moon in a next-generation capsule, will launch in September 2025 rather than later this year.

A subsequent mission to actually land astronauts on the lunar surface near the moon's south pole will be delayed to September 2026.

“We are returning to the moon in a way we never have before, and the safety of our astronauts is NASA’s top priority as we prepare for future Artemis missions,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

The latest setback follows years of holdups and budget overruns with NASA's Artemis program. The agency has spent more than $42 billion over more than a decade on developing a new megarocket and spacecraft to take astronauts back to the moon.

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