AEROSPACE INDUSTRY UPDATE
August 2016
McIlvaine Company
The Orion crew module for Exploration Mission 1 was
transferred into the cleanroom inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout
Building at Kennedy Space Center in late July to begin installation of the
spacecraft's critical systems, including propellant lines.
Assembly of the Orion crew module for the first uncrewed
flight test atop NASA’s Space Launch System reached a significant milestone this
month in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at the
agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of
Orion, and its subcontractor engineers, technicians, and X-ray specialists
completed the first propellant system tube welds on the exterior of the Orion
pressure vessel.
Orion’s propulsion lines are comprised of multiple metal tubes
of varying lengths that are welded together around the vehicle. With the first
tubes in place, X-ray specialists performed inspections of the welds for any
imperfections. This process will be repeated as each of the remaining tube
assemblies are completed along the exterior of the crew module in the cleanroom.
“Completion of the first Orion propulsion system welds marks
an important milestone for production of the next spacecraft for flight,” says
Scott Wilson, NASA manager of production operations for the Orion Program. “We
are moving from assembling structure to installing the critical systems that
will propel Orion farther and farther from Earth than human-capable spacecraft
ever have journeyed.”
The propellant lines will provide hydrazine to the spacecraft
thrusters during missions into deep space. The propellant lines complete a
continuous connection from the propellant tanks in the aft bay of the crew
module to the spacecraft’s thrusters, which are part of the system that helps to
steer the capsule during the mission.
“These first propulsion system welds marks a significant
transition during the build-up of the crew module, signifying the completion of
the structures assembly and the beginning of the fluid systems integration,”
says Jules Schneider, Orion KSC operations manager with Lockheed Martin.
Orion was moved from the birdcage assembly fixture and secured
in the cleanroom for the first time in late July. The first propellant system
weld was completed in the cleanroom. The spacecraft’s critical systems,
including the Environmental Control and Life Support System and propellant
lines, will be completed in this room.
Orion is the NASA spacecraft that will send astronauts to
deep-space destinations, including on toward the journey to Mars. The pressure
vessel will contain the atmosphere that a crew would breathe during a mission.
It also will provide living and working space for the crew, and withstand the
loads and forces experienced during launch and landing.
The SLS rocket with Orion atop is targeted to launch from
Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B in 2018. EM-1 will send Orion on a path thousands of
miles beyond the moon over a course of three weeks, farther into space than
human spaceflight has ever travelled before. The spacecraft will return to Earth
and safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. The
mission will advance and validate capabilities required for human exploration of
Mars.
“Our human journey to Mars is underway. It is milestones like
these that mark our progress to deep space,” Wilson says.
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