Picture: NASA barge Pegasus with Artemis core inside arrives at Kennedy House Middle Flip Basin.
From the Ocean to the Moon
By Burt Dicht, NSS Managing Director of Membership
Photograph credit: Burt Dicht
Ready for the unloading of a barge won’t sound like an thrilling approach to spend a morning underneath the new Florida solar alongside the house coast. Nonetheless, this specific barge, NASA’s Pegasus, was carrying a powerful cargo: the 212-foot-long core stage that can energy the Artemis II mission on its journey to the Moon in September 2025. At round 9 a.m. EDT on July 24, Kennedy House Middle (KSC) employees from Exploration Floor Methods (EGS) started rigorously transferring the huge rocket out of its protecting shelter, revealing the RS-25 engine nozzles. At that second, I spotted that this slow-moving, meticulously choreographed operation was going to be fascinating to look at.
The Artemis II Core Stage had arrived about 24 hours earlier on the Pegasus after a 900-mile voyage that included traversing the open ocean and intercoastal waterways from NASA’s Michoud Meeting Facility (MAF) close to New Orleans. The Pegasus is a specifically designed barge owned by NASA, initially used to move house shuttle exterior tanks to KSC. It needed to be modified and refurbished to accommodate the core stage, which is greater than 50 ft longer than the shuttle tanks.
Upon arrival, the Pegasus was guided by two tugboats into the KSC Flip Basin, the place it was docked for unloading. The core stage was then moved utilizing a Self-Propelled Module Transporter (SPMT). These multi-wheeled transporters are designed to maneuver massive and heavy hundreds with exact maneuverability. The journey from the barge to the Car Meeting Constructing (VAB), which spanned greater than half a mile and required a number of turns, was made potential by the SPMTs. It was spectacular to see this huge 27.6-ft diameter, 188,000-lb orange rocket make its approach to the VAB.
Your complete transfer took about three hours, with many media personnel and KSC staff watching the gradual but thrilling journey. Over the following a number of weeks, the core stage will probably be processed earlier than being lifted vertically into the VAB’s excessive bay 3, the place it’s going to finally be mated with the opposite Artemis II elements, together with the Orion spacecraft and the Strong Rocket Boosters (SRBs). This work is a part of a extremely built-in course of to prepared Artemis II for its lunar mission subsequent yr.
An important a part of this course of is the Rotation, Processing, and Surge Facility (RPSF) at KSC, situated close to the VAB. The RPSF receives and processes the strong rocket booster segments for Artemis earlier than they’re moved to the VAB for stacking. This facility, constructed throughout the shuttle program, consists of a giant open space referred to as the excessive bay and accommodates a number of work stands and platforms to supply entry to {hardware} throughout processing. Throughout my tour of the ability, I had the chance to see the aft segments of the SRBs that will probably be used for Artemis II. In a close-by constructing referred to as the surge facility, I may clearly see one other SRB section with the distinctive NASA worm emblem.
Assembly and speaking with the gifted members of the Artemis workforce was as spectacular as seeing the Moon rocket {hardware}. I had the privilege of talking with former NASA astronaut Doug Hurley. Doug retired from NASA in 2021 and now works for Northrop Grumman’s (NG) Propulsion Methods, the producer of the Artemis SRBs, the place he serves as Senior Director for Enterprise Growth. Doug, a former marine aviator and a 20+ yr NASA veteran, flew as a pilot on STS-127, STS-135 (the ultimate shuttle flight), and because the commander of SpaceX DM2 mission, the primary crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Doug views his new position in non-public business as an extension of his career-long efforts to advance nationwide safety and the human house program. We mentioned the efficiency of the SRBs on Artemis I, which he reported labored completely, burning out inside 0.4 seconds of one another. He famous that whereas the SRB know-how required no important modifications, they’re repeatedly trying to enhance processes and procedures. The Artemis SRBs are reworked and refurbished from the shuttle program, and there are at the moment sufficient SRB segments to help missions via Artemis VIII. Doug expressed optimism concerning the Artemis program and, as an astronaut, regarded ahead to the following “small steps” on the Moon. For me personally, this expertise was each thrilling and inspirational, fueling desires and the chances of our return to the Moon within the coming years.
