As NASA counts down to the Artemis II launch, AIAA is pleased to release the most recent technical content published on the Artemis program from the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and meeting papers at AIAA SciTech Forum (2024–2026). These original research results and technological progress on Artemis have been published in AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central (ARC). The Artemis II collection is complimentary this year as we celebrate the Artemis II mission.
Tag: Artemis II Launch
NASA Completes SLS Core Stage Stacking for Next Year’s Artemis 2 Moon Mission
SPACE reports, “NASA’s next moon rocket is coming together, piece by piece. The core stage of NASA’s next Space Launch System (SLS) rocket recently completed integration with the vehicle’s side boosters inside the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida. SLS will launch NASA’s Artemis 2 mission to fly four astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft around the moon and back sometime next year.”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA Readies Artemis 2 Core Stage for Vehicle Assembly Building
Spaceflight Now reports the massive 212-foot-long core stage of the Space Launch System rocket arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center late Tuesday morning. “On Wednesday, teams from Jacobs, the prime contractor for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the Kennedy Space Center, will unpack the core stage and slowly roll it into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
NASA Rolls Artemis 2 Booster Off Factory Floor In Preparation for 2025 Launch
SPACE reports, “The core stage of the first rocket to launch astronauts to the moon in over 50 years has left its manufacturing facility, and is bound for vehicle integration and assembly ahead of its launch next year. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 2 booster was rolled out of the space agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility, in New Orleans today (July 16), 55 years to the day of NASA’s Apollo 11 launch to the moon.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Artemis II Launch Coming Together
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that the reigning title holder “for world’s most powerful rocket saw action on both its center core and its two solid rocket boosters this month, with pieces for the Artemis II launch coming together as NASA aims to send humans on a trip around the moon next year.” Arriving by train to Florida on Monday “were all 10 segments for the two side boosters of the Space Launch System rocket that will launch the Orion spacecraft with four humans on board from Kennedy Space Center as early as November 2024.” The booster’s core stage “remains in New Orleans, but teams last week installed the last of four converted space shuttle engines to the base of the stage.” The Boeing Company is the core stage’s primary contractor, and still “has more work to do before it can be shipped by barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility to KSC, currently on track for a November arrival, but the tail end finally got the last of its four R2-25 engines stuck in place.” Aerojet Rocketdyne, which “was recently acquired by Melbourne-based L3Harris, manufactured all four engines that were originally designed for the Space Shuttle Program, but have since been converted for use on the SLS.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)