Artemis Moon Program

[NMaude]

Another new video upload from Phillip Sloss concerning the current big picture with Artemis:

In this video, I look at where things stand with preparations and planning for the next three Artemis lunar missions, even as they face the possibility that President Trump and Elon Musk are going to shut them down. With that hanging over NASA's Exploration directorate, work still continues on Artemis II, III, and IV.

I'll look at how Exploration Ground Systems is stacking Artemis II in the Vehicle Assembly Building and the work that remains this year to get ready to launch that crewed, circumlunar mission. Musk's SpaceX is developing the critical piece for the Artemis III lunar landing mission, and I'll look at the big picture of where Starship is, along with work on the Axiom Space EVA suit, and downstream Orion and SLS production.

There's also the assembly work for most of the Artemis IV elements that continues, too, from Exploration Upper Stage to the Gateway modules to Mobile Launcher-2.

The fate of all of that work now rests on decisions and positions in Washington, D.C.; we're waiting to see where Trump and Musk's axe falls next, and whether anyone in power will object.

Imagery is courtesy of NASA, except where noted.Links to stories referenced:
https://www.reuters.com/technology/sp...
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...s-republican-states-2025-02-12/&v=Jknk0I3P1d8
00:00 Intro
01:04 The big picture for Artemis II
05:32 Artemis III big picture
08:15 Artemis IV big picture
11:51 Everything depends on the political situation
15:16 Thanks for watching!

 

[southwestforests]

Another new video upload from Phillip Sloss concerning the current big picture with Artemis:

Well, at least that individual data point about work and decisions is a generalized universal truth no matter whether the program is done by government, corporation, or hypothetical lone wolf mad scientist,

The fate of all of that work now rests on decisions and positions

 

[NMaude]

Phillip Sloss has uploaded a new video concerning Artemis II with its SRBs completing stacking, Gateway components being shipped and first new build RS-25E:

In a week where there was more trash-talking than normal in the NASA news feed (except there's that whole "new normal" thing happening), I'll still stick with the boring technical stuff on Artemis here in this video. To begin with, I'm more interested in Exploration Ground Systems completing assembly of the Artemis II SLS solid rocket boosters on their Mobile Launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

Who knows how long Artemis will last and what it'll look like later, but for now EGS also gave me 30 minutes with Spacecraft/Offline Operations to talk about upcoming Artemis II Orion launch preparations. After prime contractor Lockheed Martin finishes assembly and test of the spacecraft, EGS will load the consumable commodities onboard (like hypergolic bipropellant), stack the Launch Abort System on top, and encapsulate the Crew Module. I'll provide an overview in this video before covering the whole deep dive in a future one.

The Gateway HALO module is almost ready to ship to the U.S. from Italy, and thanks to NSF/NASASpaceflight we got a good look at the current state of the primary structure in a Thales Alenia Space media event. (Link below to more NSF coverage of the media event.) I'll go over those pictures and a set of still images of the first new RS-25 flight engine built by L3Harris, which is now installed in the dedicated, single-engine test stand at Stennis Space Center for an upcoming green run/acceptance hot-fire test.

That engine would fly on Artemis V, provided not only that there is an Artemis V, but that SLS is still a part of it. That's always been a political question, and speaking of that NASA associate administrator Jim Free was let go, opting to resign/retire after only serving a year in that position. He championed the existing Artemis plans, which makes the White House giving him the option to quit a month after he was bypassed to be the acting NASA administrator yet another sign of future, programmatic changes.

Imagery is courtesy of NASA, except where noted.

NSF/NASASpaceflight This Week in Spaceflight video w/HALO tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUBjhViTLkc&t=0s
• The Future of the ISS Just Got More C... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUBjhViTLkc&t=0s

Links to stories referenced:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/key-...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ver-us-moon-program-2025-02-19/&v=DScjQq-nfK8

Links to social media posts:
https://x.com/BCCarCounters/status/18...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...ters/status/1893082845561647530&v=DScjQq-nfK8
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892621...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...musk/status/1892621691060093254&v=DScjQq-nfK8
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892627...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...musk/status/1892627928921329862&v=DScjQq-nfK8

00:00 Intro
01:00 Artemis II stacking update
03:17 Main takeaways from interview with EGS Spacecraft/Offline Operations
10:03 Gateway HALO module at Thales Alenia Space media event in Turin
10:45 NSF's Adrian Beil at the Turin media event
11:50 Additional reporting on Gateway status from NASA PAO
13:24 First new L3Harris RS-25 flight engine ready for acceptance test
15:36 NASA associate admin Jim Free is let go/resigns
16:26 Thanks for watching!

 

[publiusr]

It wasn’t that long ago, that the ISS camp and the SLS camp were at each other’s throats (ah-the good old days):

Dennis Wingo's article on "NASA's Solomon's Choice in 2014" (ISS vs. SLS/Orion)

Dennis Wingo's article on "NASA's Solomon's Choice in 2014" (ISS vs. SLS/Orion)

forum.nasaspaceflight.com

Who’d a thunk they’d both die?
Poor Dennis Wingo—he tried to save both:

Architecture Notes for Sustainable and Affordable Exploration

Introduction It has been interesting to watch and read about the potential new direction of American space policy in the new administration. I could say that about every new administration, but on…

denniswingo.wordpress.com

I’m hearing scuttlebutt about Trump moving 500 FBI positions to Huntsville to lessen the blow.

“The film you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of MSFC workers:

Diet Prada ™ on Instagram: "What a tool. At Thursday’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Argentina’s self-described “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, gifted Elon Musk his signature prop(aganda)—a chainsaw The

7,952 likes, 1,594 comments - diet_prada on February 21, 2025: "What a tool. At Thursday’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Argentina’s self-described “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, gifted Elon Musk his signature prop(aganda)—a chainsaw The custom...

www.instagram.com

Viewer discretion is advised:

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_oaviloCM2w