Major parts from all five of NASA's retired space shuttles are ready to be launched again, this time on a mission to the moon.
The components that flew on 83 space shuttle missions have been put into new vehicles.
"While we have tested each of these subsystems, whether they are the boosters, the engines, or the main engine, it is the first time we are going to operate these together is one integrated vehicle," said Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager at NASAHeadquarters.
The Artemis 1 moon mission has live updates.
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The SLS is the first test flight. An uncrewed capsule will travel far beyond the moon into a retrograde path before returning to Earth. The journey will be the farthest into space that a human-rated spaceship has ever traveled, and it will be pushed to its limits by future missions.
Congress directed NASA to develop its next- generation heavy-lift rocket and crew capsule with components from the space shuttle.
Four modified space shuttle main engines and two extended shuttle solid rocket boosters were used to power the SLS. The shuttle was powered by an engine that was used to maneuver it in space. The Artemis 1 SLS and Orion have flight histories that go back decades.
The Space Shuttle Main Engine was built by Aerojet rocketdyne.
"We're using engines from shuttle, but the engines have new controllers on them," said Chris Cianciola, SLS program deputy manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center during Monday's press conference.
The four engines on Artemis 1 are protected from the exhaust of the solid rocket boosters with additional insulation on their nozzles.
The Artemis 1 core stage has a history with the space shuttle.
Engine 2045 first flew on shuttle missions in 1998 through 2011. John Glenn's return to flight, the 100th space shuttle flight, and the delivery of Japan's facility exposed to the International Space Station were among the flights it helped launch.
There were six shuttle missions, including the delivery of the U.S. Harmony node and Japanese Kibo laboratory for the International Space Station.
On three space shuttle launches, including the station resupply flight, and two of the missions flown with engine 2045, the fourthRS-25 flew on Artemis 1.
The Artemis 1RS-25 engines will not be used again. Recovering from the core stage's size and altitude made it impractical without sacrificing cargo-carrying ability. On reentering, the core stage will break apart and plunge into the ocean.
There are pictures of the space shuttle program.
After the four engines fire, the two side-mounted rocket boosters ignite. The booster and engines produce more thrust at liftoff than any previous U.S. rocket.
The SLS booster is the most powerful solid propellant motor ever built. The major difference between the shuttle and SLS hardware is the addition of a fifth solid propellant segment to the four-segment shuttle booster.
The SLS solid rocket boosters (opens in new tab) were built from pieces of the shuttle.
Hardware used in the launch of 73 shuttle missions is included in the left and right side boosters.
The first flight of the space shuttle Discovery took place in 1984 and is the oldest component on the I- A booster. On the last launch of Columbia, the same component flew, as well as on Discovery.
If Artemis 1 is able to lift off on its first attempt, that last flight may have significance. 13 years ago, the International Space Station was launched.
The first flight to dock to the International Space Station is included in the shuttle's history.
The SLS boosters won't be recovered after they leave the core stage at 2 minutes and 12 seconds into flight. Five and a half minutes after their launch, the boosters will splash down and be allowed to sink into the ocean.
Howard Hu, the program manager at Johnson Space Center in Houston, said that the reuse of the OMS-E is the main engine.
The main engine for the shuttle was built by Aerojet Rocketdyne and was used to maneuver the shuttle around the Earth. The OMS-E provided the thrust to enter, circularize and transfer between flights, as well as to rendezvous, deorbit and execute aborts.
The main engine provides over 6,000 pounds of force and is able to move from side to side.
All of the soft goods that came with the OMS-E engine we got from the shuttle program have been replaced.
We are entranced by the moon.
The main engine of the Artemis 1 was used on 19 shuttle missions. The Hubble Space Telescope was aided by the deployment of one of the I-B booster cylinders.
When the European service module separates from the capsule, the main engine will be thrown away.
There are other missions that will fly with parts from the space shuttle.
The next three SLS missions, Artemis 2 through Artemis 4, will be powered by 14 flight-proven engines. Aerojet Rocketdyne was awarded a contract by NASA to build new, expendableRS-25 engines.
The Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 missions will be supported by shuttle-era hardware before the production of new assets for Artemis 4 through Artemis 8. The Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) boosters will replace the steel cases used for the space shuttle with upgraded structures.
After the first six missions, shuttle-legacy OMS engines will be used for the rest of the flight.
Although most of the flight-qualified hardware remaining about the space shuttle program was set aside for use with the SLS, flown examples of the space shuttle main engine, solid rocket boosters and Orbital maneuvering engines are preserved by museums.
The full space shuttle flight history can be found by clicking through to collectSPACE.
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