SLS : Artemis I UPDATES: Kennedy LC-39B : 16 November 2022 (06:47 UTC)

[jacqmans]

ESA names first ‘astronaut’ to fly on the Artemis I lunar mission
02/08/2022

The specially trained woolly astronaut, Shaun the Sheep, has been assigned a seat on the Artemis I mission to the Moon. Shaun’s assignment was announced by ESA’s Director for Human and Robotic Exploration Dr David Parker.

David Parker said, “Shaun’s mission assignment rounds off the first phase for the latest members of our astronaut corps, with Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti currently on the International Space Station on her second spaceflight, Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen named for his second flight and before we introduce our new astronauts from the 2021 call for selection later this year.”

“This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA. We’re woolly very happy that he’s been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it’s a giant leap for lambkind,” added David Parker.

Shaun will be flying on the Artemis I mission, which will be the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft with an ESA European Service Module, planned to go around the Moon and back. This mission is not carrying a human crew but will instead be controlled from the ground with its woolly specialist as a passenger.

Orion and its European Service Module will be launched by the Space Launch System from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The spacecraft will enter a low-Earth orbit before the rocket’s upper stage fires to take it into a translunar orbit.

The spacecraft will perform a flyby of the Moon, using lunar gravity to gain speed and propel itself 70 000 km beyond the Moon, almost half a million km from Earth – farther than any human, or sheep, has ever travelled.

In preparation for this flight, Shaun began a programme of astronaut training and familiarisation with the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module in 2020, travelling to various locations across Europe and the USA to see different aspects of the mission. This training was documented and will be presented in a series of ESA blog posts leading up to launch.

With a keen passion for exploring, Shaun took flight on the special Airbus ‘Zero G’ A310 aircraft during one of its parabolic flights that recreates the ‘weightless’ conditions similar to those experienced in space.

Under the supervision of an ESA team, this flight prepared Shaun for his role as a space traveller in his film ‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon’, released in 2019. It offered insight into the rigorous training that all astronauts undertake to prepare for spaceflight, which he will now experience for real.

Lucy Wendover, Marketing Director at Aardman says, “Aardman is excited to be joining ESA in making history by launching the first ‘sheep’ into space. As one of the first astronauts to fly an Artemis mission, Shaun is leading the way in lunar exploration, a great honour for our woolly adventurer! 2022 marks the 15th anniversary of Shaun’s first TV series, so what better way to celebrate than by travelling farther than any sheep has gone before.”

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/ESA_names_first_astronaut_to_fly_on_the_Artemis_I_lunar_mission

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/NASAGroundSys/status/1554095431688364037

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1554844980690227202

[Phil Stooke]

The kit doesn't give a schedule for cubesat deployments (there is a diagram with A, B, C deployments, but not which cubesats are included in each deployment).  Is that information available anywhere?

EDIT:  Argomoon will be deployed in the first batch, per a presentation at the NASA Exploration Science Forum in July.  That's all I have so far.

[kdhilliard]

Live Now: Tune in as agency experts and leaders discuss the big picture of our return to the Moon with #Artemis I.

Learn about our mission objectives and what’s next for @NASAArtemis
 as we move closer to the launch date: http://nasa.gov/live

Here's that briefing on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=37tnhg4H5Xo

Artemis I mission overview briefing with the following participants:

-NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
-Bhavya Lal, associate administrator for technology, policy, and strategy, NASA Headquarters
-Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, NASA Headquarters
-Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis I launch director, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
-John Honeycutt, Space Launch System program manager, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
-Howard Hu, Orion program manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston

[nzguy]

Here's that briefing on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=37tnhg4H5Xo

About 25:12 in the video there is an interesting section from the LD about the status of SLS and Orion in the VAB, as well as the remaining work items before rollout. Rollout is targeted to start of August 18, will be 11 day rollout campaign (including getting everything ready on the launch tower etc)

Remaining items:
- complete loading of items into Orion, door will be closed in 10 days
- flight termination system test next week, required access to parts of core stage and boosters that can't be closed out yet
- small bit of work on right booster thermal skirt close out
- retracting remaining work platforms, 3 are already retracted
- full launch simulation in control room (she said tomorrow when video was recorded)

Interesting note that extra hour of hold was added to launch timeline due to finding in WDR that existing hold wasn't enough to complete everything on time.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1554851995231703041

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis 1 launch director, says NASA is “on plan” for rollout on Aug. 18 that would support a launch Aug. 29.

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1554859951428104192

Blackwell-Thompson says NASA is continuing to review with the Eastern Range the SLS flight termination system, which currently supports two launches in 20 days (a period which starts before rollout.) She says NASA will factor that into scrub planning.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasagroundsys/status/1555549554560335872

Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 3 Platform E was retracted last night. ½ of the platforms are now retracted. Platform K will be retracted tonight, with B, C, E next week, starting on Tues.
Join us today at 11:30 ET for an Artemis I mission briefing at nasa.gov/live

[yg1968]

NASA Previews Artemis I Mission to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast):

[lykos]

18.08..

[bolun]

https://twitter.com/esa/status/1556956437057871875

#Artemis I: the first mission for ESA's European Service Module, to send the @NASA_Orion spacecraft beyond the #Moon and back.
👉 https://esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Orion/Artemis_I
👉https://esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Orion/Orion_European_Service_Module_media_kit

#ForwardToTheMoon #WeAreGoing

Image credit: ESA–K. Oldenburg

[jackvancouver]

https://www.space.com/artemis-1-launch-ticket-sales-crash-website

Methinks the MEGA MOON ROCKET marketing is working...

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/JimFree/status/1557039796744249346

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasagroundsys/status/1557484881004924930

Artemis I Update: Platform D in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building was retracted leaving only platform F remaining, which crews continue to use for access to the vehicle.

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/JimFree/status/1557476546163654657

[yg1968]

The list of cubsesats launching on Artemis I:

https://twitter.com/Capoglou/status/1557418668283371520

[jacqmans]

August 10, 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY M22-110

NASA to Stream Artemis I Rollout, Briefings on Science, Tech Payloads

NASA will hold a trio of media teleconferences the week of Aug. 14 to preview the science and technology payloads that will fly as part of the agency’s Artemis I flight test. NASA also will provide livestream coverage of Artemis I’s move to the launch pad ahead of its targeted no earlier than Monday Aug. 29 liftoff.

Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test, the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars.

Ten shoebox-size secondary payloads, called CubeSats, are hitching a ride to space on Artemis I’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and several other investigations are flying inside the Orion spacecraft during the flight test. Each of the payloads will perform science and technology experiments in deep space, expanding understanding of lunar science, technology developments, and deep space radiation.

Audio of all three briefings will livestream on NASA’s website. The briefings include (all times Eastern):

Monday, Aug. 15

5 p.m. – Lunar science payloads teleconference with the following participants:

Dr. Jacob Bleacher, NASA chief exploration scientist
Craig Hardgrove, principal investigator, NASA LunaH-Map
Tatsuaki Hashimoto, project manager for OMOTENASHI, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Ryu Funase, project manager for EQUULEUS, JAXA
Ben Malphrus, NASA principal investigator, Lunar IceCube
Joseph Shoer, architect for Small Sat missions, Lockheed Martin
Tuesday, Aug. 16

Noon – Technology demonstration and solar system science payloads teleconference with the following participants:

Patrick Troutman, strategy and architectures liaison for NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture Development Office
Dustin Gohmert, Orion crew survival systems project manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Raffaele Mugnuolo, ArgoMoon program manager, Italian Space Agency
Rob Chambers, director of commercial civil space strategy, Lockheed Martin
Wesley Faler, team lead, Team Miles
Julie Castillo-Rogez, NASA principal science investigator, NEAScout
Les Johnson, NASA principal technology investigator, NEA Scout
Wednesday, Aug. 17

Noon – Radiation secondary payloads teleconference with the following participants:

Ramona Gaza, MARE science team lead, NASA
Thomas Berger, Helga and Zohar principal investigator, German Aerospace Center
Oren Milstein, chief executive officer, StemRad
Ye Zhang, plant biology program scientist, NASA Biological and Physical Sciences
Sergio Santa Maria, BioSentinel lead scientist, NASA
Mihi I. Desai, CuSP principal investigator, NASA
To participate by phone, media must send their full name, media affiliation, email address, and phone number no later than two hours prior to the start of each event to: [email protected].

The agency is targeting Thursday, Aug. 18 to roll the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft to NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida and will provide a live stream on the NASA Kennedy You Tube channel beginning at 6 p.m.

View information about the technology and science payloads on Artemis I:

https://www.nasa.gov/launching-science-and-technology.html

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/free_space/status/1557857609939566592

NASA and @SpaceForceDoD have resolved an issue over @NASA_SLS flight termination system battery, enabling @NASA to confirm Sept. 5 as a backup launch date if SLS doesn't fly on Aug. 29 or Sept. 2, Orion prog deputy mngr Debbie Korth tells @AviationWeek

[cynbloxy]

NASA launch Webcast created:

[catdlr]

Artemis I Path to the Pad: The Rocket

Have you ever wondered what it takes to assemble the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built? Watch documentary footage of our Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's transformation into the over-300-foot-tall launch vehicle that will return humanity to the Moon.

Starting with manufacturing and ending with stacking operations inside NASA Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, this is only the beginning of SLS's path to the pad.