Huge weld tool nearly complete

NEW ORLEANS -- The 170-foot Vertical Assembly Center (VAC) is near completion and will soon be ready to build the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket in history and designed for deep space missions. VAC is the world's largest spacecraft welding tool, part of a family of tools at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility designed to build the core stage. The core stage will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle's RS-25 engines, which will be tested at nearby Stennis Space Center, Miss. The core stage, comprised of the forward skirt, the liquid oxygen tank, the intertank, the liquid hydrogen tank and the engine section, recently passed its critical design review. (Source: Space Travel, 07/23/14) Previous

Airline picks Trent 7000

Hawaiian Airlines selected six Airbus A330-800neo aircraft powered by the newly-launched Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine. The new aircraft will replace six A350-800 aircraft that the airline has on order. The Trent engine family has accumulated more than 75 million flight hours over the last 19 years. Each member of the Trent engine family has been either the market leader, aircraft launch engine, or both. Trent engines are tested at the Rolls-Royce outdoor test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Source: Rolls-Royce, 07/23/14) Previous

RS-25 for SLS on test stand

RS-25 installed on A-1 stand. NASA photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – In a key milestone in NASA's Space Launch System program, an RS-25 engine was installed Thursday on the A-1 Test Stand. The team at NASA's Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi will perform developmental and flight certification testing of the engine, No. 0525, a modified version of the space shuttle main engine that powered missions into space from 1981 to 2011. The SLS core stage will be powered by four RS-25 engines. Early tests on the engine will collect data on the performance of its new advanced engine controller and other modifications. (Source: NASA, 07/17/14) The core stage of the SLS is being built at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans.

Hancock honors SpaceX

SpaceX will receive an economic development award from the Hancock County Port & Harbor Commission, the county’s economic development authority. Ashley Edwards, the commission's executive director, will present the Industrial Award of Excellence to officials from SpaceX during the Hancock Chamber Annual Awards Gala Aug. 21 at Hollywood Casino. SpaceX, one of the nation's commercial space companies, was the first to private company to successfully resupply the International Space Station. SpaceX, which wants to fly missions deeper into space, is testing subscale components at SSC, where it's also doing R&D on its next generation Raptor engine. (Source: Partners for Stennis, 07/16/14)

Cygnus heads to ISS

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. – Fresh supplies and research experiments began a three-day journey to the International Space Station on Sunday after a successful launch atop an Antares rocket. The rocket took off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at 12:52 p.m. EDT. The commercial Orbital Sciences Cygnus supply ship will complete the cargo delivery Wednesday with an automated approach to the space station. The Antares rocket is powered by twin Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 engines, which are tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Source: Spaceflight Now, 07/14/14)

Airbus picks Trent 7000

Rolls-Royce today announced that Airbus picked the new Trent 7000 as the exclusive engine for the Airbus A330neo. The Trent 7000, launched today, is the seventh member of the Trent engine family. Over the last 19 years, Rolls-Royce Trent engines have accumulated more than 75 million flight hours. The majority of modern widebody aircraft, either in service or on order, are powered by Trent engines. (Source: Rolls-Royce, 07/14/14) Rolls-Royce tests Trent engines at its outdoor facility at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Linde gets NASA contract

NASA has awarded a contract to Linde LLC to supply liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen to six of its research/space flight centers, including Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. The contract calls for Linde to supply over 360,000 tons of liquid nitrogen and some 64,000 tons of liquid oxygen to support operations. Other centers covered by the contract are Glenn Research Center, Ohio; Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.; Johnson Space Center, Texas; and Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala. Nitrogen is used by the agency for pneumatic actuation, purging and inerting, pressurization, and for its cooling value. Oxygen is used as an oxidizer in cryogenic rocket engines. (Source: Linde via PRNewswire, 07/07/14)

Geocent gets Tibbetts award

Geocent, an information technology and engineering firm headquartered in Metairie, La., has received a Tibbetts Award for its work done on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects. The award recognizes an organization's contributions as a model of excellence for the SBIR program. Individuals and companies are selected for providing outstanding leadership in a state, across a region, or across the nation. Geocent has an office at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and is a tenant of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology. (Source: Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions, 07/01/14)

Boeing, NASA sign SLS pact

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Boeing finalized a contract with NASA to develop the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever built. The $2.8 billion contract validates Boeing's earlier selection as prime contractor on the SLS core stage, including avionics, under an undefinitized contract authorization. In addition, Boeing will study the SLS Exploration Upper Stage, which will further expand mission range and payload capabilities. The agreement comes as NASA and Boeing complete the Critical Design Review (CDR) on the core stage, the last major review before full production begins. During the CDR, experts examined and confirmed the final design of the rocket's cryogenic stages that will hold liquefied hydrogen and oxygen. It's NASA's first CDR on a deep-space human exploration launch vehicle since 1961, when the Saturn V rocket underwent a similar review. (Source: Boeing, 07/02/14) Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, is building the core stage and the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, part of the SLS program; Stennis Space Center, Miss., tests the SLS engines.

J-2X testing completed

Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed its final J-2X test series at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Over three years Aerojet Rocketdyne teams manufactured, assembled, and tested four newly developed engine test articles that achieved an accumulated duration of nearly five hours firing time and demonstrated full power operation for twice its designed life service. The liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen fueled engine is designed to start at altitude and re-start in space as part of a second or third stage of a large, multi-stage launch vehicle. With its full nozzle extension installed, the J-2X is more than 15 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter at its base and weighs 5,400 pounds. The engine is one of several options being considered to power the upper stage of NASA's future 130-metric-ton Space Launch System, designed to launch crew and cargo to deep space destinations. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a GenCorp company. (Source: Product Design and Development, 06/30/14)

Contract: Lockheed, $38.4M

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $38,378,116 modification (P00645) to the cost-plus-incentive-fee contract F04701-02-C-0002 for Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) System Interim Contractor Sustainment Re-vector under cost line item number 0610. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $8,752,571,223. The contract modification is for critical software development for Mission Planning Development for initial operational capability in 2015. Work will be performed at Sunnyvale and El Segundo, Calif., and is expected to be completed by June 30, 2015. Space and Missile Systems Center/PKJ, AEHF, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 06/30/14) Gulf Coast note: Lockheed does core propulsion system work for AEHR at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Orion chuts hit no snags

Orion parachutes tested. NASA photo

NASA completed the most complex and flight-like test of the parachute system for the agency's Orion spacecraft on Wednesday. A test version of Orion touched down safely in the Arizona desert after being pulled out of a C-17 aircraft, 35,000 feet above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground. It was the first time some parachutes in the system had been tested at such a high altitude. The test also marked the last time the entire parachute sequence will be tested before Orion launches into space in December on its first space flight test, EFT-1. During the flight, an uncrewed Orion launched by an Atlas V will travel 3,600 miles into space, farther than any spacecraft built to carry humans has been in more than 40 years. (Source: NASA, 06/25/14) The Orion for EFT-1 was built at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. Stennis Space Center, Miss., is testing the engines that will be used in NASA's Space Launch System that will be used for future Orion launches.

Contract: Lockheed, $1.8B

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $1,863,474,312 modification (P00001) to previously awarded contract (FA8810-13-C-0001) for Space-Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) 5 and 6 satellites, including performance incentives and options for acoustic testing and launch operations. This contract modification will complete the production of the SBIRS GEO 5/6 satellites, which was started with the procurement of long lead parts, and also complete the associated ground operations and processing updates. The contract modification also includes adding options for acoustic testing, launch vehicle integration, launch and early on-orbit testing, and contractor operations support. Work will be performed at Sunnyvale and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2022. Space and Missile System Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base/El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 06/24/14) Work on the SBIRS core propulsion system is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Change of command held

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Rear Adm. Timothy C. Gallaudet relieved Rear Adm. Brian B. Brown as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NAVMETOCCOM) in a traditional change of command ceremony Wednesday at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Gallaudet was promoted to the rank of rear admiral (lower half) just prior to the ceremony. (Source: NNS, 06/19/14)

NASA to show Orion progress

With six months until its first trip to space, NASA's Orion spacecraft is taking shape at the agency's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The media has been invited to a status update on Orion and to see the spacecraft Wednesday. Technicians began attaching the crew module on top of the completed service module on Monday. This is the first step in moving the three primary Orion elements, the crew module, service module and launch abort system, into the correct configuration for launch. This is all part of NASA's Space Launch System program, designed to carry astronauts deeper in space than ever before. Orion was built at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, and rocket engines for the SLS program are tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. But Orion on this first flight will be lifted atop a Delta IV, which is powered by RS-68 engines tested at SSC. (Source: GCAC, 06/17/14, NASA release)

Command getting new leader

Capt. Timothy C. Gallaudet, selected for the rank of rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Stennis Space Center, Miss. Gallaudet is currently serving as executive assistant to Oceanographer/Navigator of the Navy, N2/N6E, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. (Source: DoD, 06/02/14)

Engine failure delays mission

Orbital Sciences Corp. is delaying the launch of its second robotic resupply mission to the International Space Station to investigate the failure of a rocket engine during a test at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. An Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26, one of two used on Orbital's Antares launch vehicle, failed midway through a test. Orbital Sciences will postpone the June 10 launch of the company's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft. The mission will not launch to the space station before June 17. (Source: space.com, 05/28/14) Previous

Contract: Lockheed, $7.4M

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., has been awarded a $7,400,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification (P00788) to F04701-95-C-0017 to generate simulation scenarios in support of Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center's initial operational test and evaluation at Space-Based Infrared Systems Engineering and Manufacturing Development, Block 20. Work will be done in Sunnyvale and Azuza, Calif., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 30, 2016. Infrared Space Systems Contracts Division, Space and Missile Systems Center, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/27/14) Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center, Miss., does the core propulsion system work on the SBIRS satellites.

No one hurt in test failure

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- An AJ-26 rocket engine used to power Orbital Sciences' Antares launch vehicle failed during hot fire testing Thursday in South Mississippi. The Aerojet Rocketdyne engine, a modified version of the Russian-built NK-33, is fueled with a liquid oxygen kerosene. The publication NASAspaceflight quoted sources and saying the engine was being tested at the E-complex when it exploded halfway through the test, but nobody was injured. Orbital Sciences has already had multiple successful launches of the Antares, which lifts the cargo vehicle Cygnus on supply missions to the International Space Station. (Sources: NASAspaceflight, Sun Herald, Spaceflight Now, 05/23/14) Previous

Lockheed strike at SSC ends

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- A union strike against Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center ended Tuesday when the union agreed to a new three-year contract. Members of Local 2249 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union began the strike Friday over pensions. The union represents about 115 workers who support NASA rocket testing at SSC in South Mississippi. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/20/14) Previous