Lockheed Martin Completes Assembly, Testing Spacecraft

Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor on NASA’s Orion spacecraft designed to take humans deep into space, announced the completion of assembly and testing of the Orion intended for the Artemis II mission and has transferred the vehicle to the NASA Exploration Ground Systems, or EGS, team.

This is a significant step in NASA’s Artemis program as it prepares to launch a crew of four astronauts to the Moon for exploration and scientific discovery. It also contributes to the knowledge and experience base for the first crewed missions to Mars.

According to NASA, Orion is the most advanced human-rated deep space spacecraft ever developed. As prime contractor, Lockheed Martin built the crew module, its adaptor, and its launch abort system.

Kirk Shireman, Vice President of Human Space Exploration and Orion Program Manager at Lockheed Martin said, "This achievement is a testament to our employees and suppliers who have worked tirelessly to get us to this important milestone.

“The Orion spacecraft completion for Artemis II is a major step forward in our nation's efforts to develop a long-term lunar presence. It's exciting to think that soon, humans will see the Earth rise over the lunar horizon from our vehicle, while also traveling farther from Earth than ever before."

Building on the results of the Artemis I mission, the Orion has had the fully functional crew systems added including life support, displays and controls, exercise machine, and launch abort system. It also has been equipped with docking sensors and an experimental laser communications system that should enable high data-rate communications.

Artemis II is targeted for early 2026 with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Its 10-day trip will take the spacecraft and crew 4,600 miles beyond the Moon and back to Earth, completing a series of tasks including docking, evaluating the spacecraft’s performance, nav and comms testing, and scientific experiments.

The results of Artemis II will pave the way for the first human landing on the Moon since 1972 in the Artemis III mission.

FMI:  news.lockheedmartin.com/