NASA moves Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building

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Image: NASA

Space Flight Now: Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center moved the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 moon mission into the Vehicle Assembly Building Tuesday for stacking on top of the Space Launch System.

The 67-foot-tall (20-meter) spacecraft, with its launch abort system tower attached, rolled into the iconic assembly building around 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) Tuesday.

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Close-up view shows the SLS rocket for Artemis I inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 20, 2021. Inside the VAB, the rocket recently completed the umbilical retract and release test and the integrated modal test. With the completion of the SLS design, NASA has now certified the SLS and Orion spacecraft designs, as well as the new Launch Control Center at Kennedy for the Artemis I mission. Image: NASA
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The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, with NASA’s Orion spacecraft mounted atop, lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 at 7:05 a.m. EST, Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Florida. The Orion spacecraft will orbit Earth twice, reaching an altitude of approximately 3,600 miles above Earth before landing in the Pacific Ocean. No one is aboard Orion for this flight test, but the spacecraft is designed to allow us to journey to destinations never before visited by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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Path to the Pad: NASA Moon Rocket Comes Together for Artemis. Image: NASA

The Orion spacecraft rode a special transporter from the Launch Abort System Facility to the VAB. The 6-mile (10-kilometer) journey from the Kennedy Space Center’s industrial area took more than four hours. Continue reading at Space Flight Now.


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