Marshall Space Flight Center completes hardware for Artemis II missionKayla Smith
WHNT HuntsvilleThu, August 14, 2025 at 8:33 PM EDT
2 min read
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (WHNT) — Next Spring, the Artemis II mission will carry astronauts the closest they have been to the moon since the Apollo program. As launch day approaches, Marshall Space Flight Center is preparing to send off a crucial stage adapter.
“We are getting ready to go,” said Marshall Space Flight Center Materials and Processes Engineer AJ Gallemore.
Marshall has wrapped up the Orion Stage Adapter. It is the final piece of hardware the Huntsville-based center will contribute to the Artemis II mission. The component is scheduled to depart North Alabama next week, making its way to Kennedy Space Center.
This adapter is the piece that separates the astronauts from the rest of the rocket’s propulsion systems, connecting the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage to the Orion spacecraft. The five-foot-tall structure is the topmost portion of the SLS rocket, and it stays with the capsule until the crew leaves low Earth orbit.
“It’s quite an amazing job to see everything come together and to see it being shipped out,” said Orion Stage Adapter Deputy Lead Monique Wallace.
The stage adapter was designed and manufactured in its entirety at Marshall. It is capable of carrying small payloads called CubeSats, or shoebox-sized satellites, that will play a role in research during the mission.
“They’re doing a lot of space weather-related science, so measuring the effects of radiation, how radiation can affect electrical components, and how it could affect human tissue,” said SLS Program Payload Integration Lead Russell Lane.
The four CubeSats that will fly as a part of Artemis II were developed by Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Argentina, and they should deploy about five and a half hours after launch.
“They can do really good transformative science,” Lane said. “It’s helpful if we have knowledge gaps that we need answers on that will help us as we move forward to go back to the moon and to Mars.”
The team at Marshall has been working on components of the Artemis II SLS for years.
“Marshall Engineering has poured its heart and soul into this,” Wallace said.
Work continues at Marshall as the team looks ahead to Artemis III. Artemis II is scheduled to launch next spring.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/marshall-space-flight-center-completes-003338676.html
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