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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM JANUARY 2018

ORION STAGE ADAPTER READY TO HEAD TO KENNEDY www..gov PROGRAM MEETS MAJOR MILESTONE: STAGE ADAPTER COMPLETE

Employees and media at Marshall Space Flight Center toured the completed Orion stage adapter January 30 at an event to celebrate the milestone.

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January 2018 Highlights Space Launch System (SLS) 2 Marshall Space Flight Center Director Todd May congratulated the SLS Program, the Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution Office and the Secondary Payloads team on the completion of the Orion stage adapter hardware.

The Orion stage adapter flight hardware for NASA’s Representatives from two CubeSat developers were Space Launch System has been outfitted and is at the event to discuss objectives of their missions, ready to travel to the agency’s including the Lunar IceCube of Morehead State in Florida. Several hundred employees at NASA’s University and Near Asteroid Scout (NEAScout), Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, developed by Marshall Space Flight Center and the toured the newly completed hardware January 30 at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, respectively. an event to celebrate the milestone. The Orion stage Employees who worked directly on the hardware had adapter is the second major component completed for an opportunity to sign the lower rim of the striking SLS. Whereas most hardware is produced by prime green primer covering the adapter’s interior prior to its suppliers in other locations, the Orion stage adapter is final outfitting. The autographs of two retired Apollo the first piece of launch vehicle hardware destined for astronauts — Fred Haise and Harrison Hagan “Jack” deep space that Marshall employees have produced Schmitt — also adorn the hardware. since the . Marshall Center Director Todd May addressed the team. “We’re doing something truly amazing here,” he “We’re putting the said. “We’re putting humans back out into deep space. unreachable back “Taking these small payloads on this vehicle is within reach for revolutionary because to date are only doing things in low-Earth orbit,” May said. “We are extending humankind with the reach of CubeSats out into deep space and doing this rocket.” world class science.”

January 2018 Highlights Space Launch System (SLS) 3 AVIONICS FOR SECONDARY PAYLOADS TESTED With the Orion stage adapter (OSA) for first flight complete, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center tested the avionics unit and related systems responsible for deployment of the 13 CubeSat secondary payloads during Exploration Mission-1. In the last major test before the OSA ships to Kennedy Space Center, engineers put the avionics unit through its paces to ensure it sends signals to the payload dispensers (represented by silver emulators on the outside of the adapter) to deploy at appropriate times. During flight, the CubeSats, built by NASA and international, academic and industry partners, will be released at several deep space destinations after the Orion spacecraft has separated from SLS. The small satellites pack some big science and technology demonstrations into spacecraft about the size of a large shoebox and will perform a variety of missions, including putting the smallest lander ever on the surface of the and deploying a to venture into the solar system to rendezvous with an asteroid.

NASA PICKS UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF IN 2017, TESTS RS-25 FLIGHT CONTROLLER NASA engineers picked up this year where they left off in 2017, conducting a certification test of another RS-25 engine flight controller on January 16 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The 365-second, full-duration test came a month after the space agency capped a year of RS-25 testing with a flight controller test in mid-December. A 3-D printed part tested in December was tested again. This rocket engine component, a pogo accumulator assembly, is part of an ongoing series of tests with parts made using advanced manufacturing techniques that will make building future engines more affordable. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2nLrScY

January 2018 Highlights Space Launch System (SLS) 4 EXPLORATION MISSION-1 IDENTIFIER

This Exploration Mission-1 artwork showcases the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft and lifting off from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The triangular shape represents the three main programs that comprise NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems: Orion, SLS and Exploration Ground Systems and is a classic shape for NASA mission emblems dating back to the shuttle era. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2nRgLj5

VIRTUAL REALITY PROGRAM ALLOWS FOR IMMERSIVE SLS EXPERIENCE A new virtual reality software program will allow users to experience the excitement of standing on the launch pad beneath NASA’s massive new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) and see the breathtaking visual of the rocket bursting through clouds. The software is available for anyone with an Oculus Rift to download for free in the Oculus store. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2scscaq

SPACEFLIGHT PARTNERS: Aero Pacific

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 12 LOCATION: Placentia, California

WHAT THEY DO FOR SLS: Aero Pacific provides green run inserts, solid rocket booster fittings and avionics bay structures for SLS.

January 2018 Highlights Space Launch System (SLS) 5 WHAT’S NEW IN SLS SOCIAL MEDIA

Here, SLS secondary payloads manager Kimberly Robinson talks with local media at an exhibit about the Orion stage adapter. The flight hardware was recently completed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and employees and media toured the OSA hardware in January. See more photos from the event here: bit.ly/2nO2Dqw

FOLLOW THE PROGRESS FEBRUARY OF NASA’S NEW LAUNCH VEHICLE FOR DEEP SPACE: The OSA leaves for Kennedy Space Center on the Super Guppy Twitter ...... Twitter.com/NASA_SLS The last test for engine 0528 Facebook ...... Facebook.com/NASASLS All about the thermal protection system