NASA Invites Media to Capture Rocket Boosters Ahead of Artemis I Launch

[ksc@nasa.gov]

	November 23, 2020  MEDIA ADVISORY M020-17 NASA Invites Media to Capture Rocket Boosters Ahead of Artemis I Launch ksc-20200623-ph-jbs01_0088_orig.jpg Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians lift the right aft motor segment – one of five segments that make up one of two solid rocket boosters for the agency’s Space Launch System – onto an inspection stand on June 23, 2020. Credits: NASA/Ben Smegelsky Members of the media are invited to capture images of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters as motor segments are transported, processed and stacked in preparation for the Artemis I launch in 2021. Multiple opportunities for coverage will be available beginning in late November. Specific dates and opportunities will be sent at a later date following accreditation. Engineers will transfer booster segments from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) beginning in late November. Workers with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs teams will stack the twin five-segment boosters on the mobile launcher inside the VAB over a number of weeks. When the core stage arrives, it will join the boosters on the mobile launcher, followed by the interim cryogenic propulsion stage and Orion spacecraft. NASA continues to monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in order to protect the health and safety of media and employees. The agency will follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency’s chief health and medical officer, and will immediately communicate any updates that may impact media access for these activities. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will test the Orion spacecraft and SLS as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024. The media accreditation deadline is Nov. 24 and is open to United States citizens only. All media accreditation requests should be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov For questions about media accreditation, email ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov. For other questions, contact Kennedy’s newsroom at 321-867-2468. For more information about the Artemis program, visit: www.nasa.gov/artemis -end-
	Press Contacts Madison Tuttle Kennedy Space Center, Fla. madison.e.tuttle@nasa.gov 321-298-5868 Brittney Thorpe Kennedy Space Center, Fla. brittney.thorpe@nasa.gov 321-289-0677
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