WASHINGTON, July 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vice President
Mike Pence visited and gave remarks
in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida on Saturday to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of the agency's Apollo 11 Moon landing and
announce to America the completion of NASA's Orion crew capsule for
the first Artemis lunar mission.
"Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of NASA, and of
American industry, the Orion crew vehicle for the Artemis 1 mission
is complete and ready to begin preparations for its historic first
flight," said Vice President Pence.
He was joined on stage by Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis, NASA Administrator Jim
Bridenstine, Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin,
Kennedy Center Director Robert
Cabana, Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer Marillyn Hewson,
and Rick Armstrong, son of Apollo 11
Commander Neil Armstrong. Before
going to the Operations and Checkout Building, the Vice President,
Aldrin and Armstrong visited Kennedy's historic launch pad, 39A,
where the Apollo 11 mission lifted off.
NASA's goal 50 years ago was to prove the agency could land
humans on the Moon and return them safely to Earth. The goal now is
to return to the Moon in a sustainable way to prepare for the next
giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars for the first time
ever.
Artemis 1 will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch
System (SLS) rocket around the Moon to test the system and pave the
way for landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon in
five years, as well as future missions to Mars.
"Similar to the 1960s, we too have an opportunity to take a
giant leap forward for all of humanity," said Bridenstine.
"President Trump and Vice President Pence have given us a bold
direction to return to the Moon by 2024 and then go forward to
Mars. Their direction is not empty rhetoric. They have backed up
their vision with the budget requests need to accomplish this
objective. NASA is calling this the Artemis program in honor of
Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology, the goddess of the Moon.
And we are well on our way to getting this done."
Engineers recently completed building and outfitting the Orion
crew module at Kennedy. The underlying structure of the crew
module, known as the pressure vessel, was manufactured at NASA's
Michoud Assembly Facility in New
Orleans and shipped to Kennedy, where teams have integrated
thousands of parts into the crew module and conducted tests to
certify all of its systems for flight.
Orion's European Service Module, which will provide the power
and propulsion for Orion during the mission, also is complete.
Contributed by ESA (European Space Agency), the service module was
manufactured by Airbus in Bremen,
Germany, and shipped to Kennedy in November 2018 for final assembly and integration.
Engineers have begun operations to join the crew module to the
service module, and teams are connecting power and fluid lines to
complete hardware attachment.
Once the two modules are joined, engineers will install a
heatshield backshell panel on the spacecraft and prepare it for a
September flight inside the agency's Super Guppy aircraft to NASA's
Plum Brook Station in Sandusky,
Ohio. Testing at Plum Brook will ensure the joined modules
can withstand the deep space environment.
When testing in Ohio is
complete, the spacecraft will return to Kennedy for final
processing and inspections. Teams then will fuel the spacecraft and
transport it to Kennedy's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building for
integration with the SLS rocket before it is rolled out to Launch
Pad 39B for the launch of Artemis
1.
Orion is part of NASA's backbone for deep space exploration,
along with SLS and the lunar Gateway. During Artemis 1, SLS
will send the uncrewed spacecraft – consisting of the crew and
service modules – thousands of miles past the Moon for the first in
a series of increasingly complex missions. Artemis 2 will be the
first of these new missions to the Moon with astronauts on board,
followed by Artemis 3, which will launch the next American
moonwalkers into a new era of exploration.
Working with U.S. companies and international partners, NASA
will push the boundaries of human exploration forward to the Moon.
Through Artemis, the agency will establish a sustainable human
presence at the Moon by 2028 to continue scientific research and
discovery, demonstrate new technologies, and lay the foundation for
future missions to Mars.
For more information about America's Moon to Mars
exploration approach, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars
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SOURCE NASA