Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0321
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov
Jennifer Stanfield
Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
jennifer.m.stanfield@nasa.gov
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The nation's space
exploration program is taking a critical step forward with a successful major
technical review of the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket
that will take astronauts farther into space than ever before.
The core stage is the heart of the
heavy-lift launch vehicle. It will stand more than 200 feet (61 meters) tall
with a diameter of 27.5 feet (8.4 meters).
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala., hosted a comprehensive review. Engineers from NASA and The
Boeing Co. of Huntsville presented a full set of system requirements, design
concepts and production approaches to technical reviewers and the independent
review board.
"This meeting validates our design
requirements for the core stage of the nation's heavy-lift rocket and is the
first major checkpoint for our team," said Tony Lavoie, manager of the SLS
Stages Element at Marshall. "Getting to this point took a lot of hard
work, and I'm proud of the collaboration between NASA and our partners at
Boeing. Now that we have completed this review, we go from requirements to real
blueprints. We are right on track to deliver the core stage for the SLS
program."
The core stage will store liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen to feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines, all of
which will be former space shuttle main engines for the first few flights. The
SLS Program has an inventory of 16 RS-25 flight engines that successfully
operated for the life of the Space Shuttle Program. Like the space shuttle, SLS
also will be powered initially by two solid rocket boosters on the sides of the
launch vehicle.
The SLS will launch NASA's Orion
spacecraft and other payloads, and provide an entirely new capability for human
exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be safe, affordable and
flexible for crew and cargo missions, the SLS will continue America's journey
of discovery and exploration to destinations including nearby asteroids,
Lagrange points, the moon and ultimately, Mars.
"This is a very exciting time for
the country and NASA as important achievements are made on the most advanced
hardware ever designed for human spaceflight," said William Gerstenmaier,
associate administrator for the Human Exploration Operations Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The SLS will power a new
generation of exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit and the moon, pushing
the frontiers of discovery forward. The innovations being made now, and the
hardware being delivered and tested, are all testaments to the ability of the
U.S. aerospace workforce to make the dream of deeper solar system exploration
by humans a reality in our lifetimes."
The first test flight of NASA's Space
Launch System, which will feature a configuration for a 77-ton (70-metric-ton)
lift capacity, is scheduled for 2017. As SLS evolves, a two-stage launch
vehicle configuration will provide a lift capability of 143 tons (130 metric
tons) to enable missions beyond low Earth orbit and support deep space
exploration.
Boeing is the prime contractor for the
SLS core stage, including its avionics. The core stage will be built at NASA's
Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans using state-of-the-art manufacturing
equipment. Marshall manages the SLS Program for the agency.
Across the SLS Program, swift progress
is being made on several elements. The J-2X upper-stage rocket engine, developed
by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for the future two-stage SLS, is being tested
at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The prime contractor for the
five-segment solid rocket boosters, ATK of Brigham City, Utah, has begun
processing its first SLS hardware components in preparation for an initial
qualification test in 2013.
For more information about the Space
Launch System, visit http://www.nasa.gov/sls.
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