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The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter for NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 29 on the agency’s Pegasus barge at the end of a delivery trip from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama
The cone-shaped interstage connector was moved into the Vehicle Assembly Building, where NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime Test and Operations Support Contractor — Jacobs — will now perform through fit checks while waiting for the SLS Core Stage to finish its Green Run test campaign at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi
The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) is the interstage connector for the SLS Block 1 vehicle that will make the SLS Program’s inaugural launch on Artemis 1; in both Crew and Cargo configurations, it connects the Core Stage with the Block 1 upper stage, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage
Once the Core arrives at Kennedy and is mated to the SLS vehicle’s twin Solid Rocket Boosters, the upper stage elements like the LVSA will be stacked on top of it
Pegasus arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC’s) Launch Complex 39 Turn Basin on July 29 carrying the LVSA, the penultimate piece of SLS vehicle hardware for the program’s first launch
Artemis 1 is forecast to liftoff late next year; the schedule to reach launch readiness will be driven by the final delivery, when Pegasus brings the SLS Core Stage to the launch site
The LVSA was moved off the barge and into High Bay 4 of the VAB the next morning, where it will remain until the EGS Integrated Operations team is ready to stack it on top of the Core Stage next year
Along with all the other SLS hardware for Artemis 1, the LVSA is the first flight unit of its kind; now that the flight hardware is at the launch site, EGS and Jacobs will take the opportunity to practice some of the integrated operations (also called “stacking”) procedures on the adapter while it sits on the floor in High Bay 4 in storage
Except for the Core Stage, all the other elements of the Orion spacecraft and the launch vehicle for Artemis 1 are now arrayed at facilities at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral; the Core Stage schedule is expected to become clearer following the hot-fire test of the Green Run campaign in progress at Stennis
The barge will eventually return to Stennis when the Core is ready for its delivery to the launch site and a full set of self-propelled modular transporters will be needed to load the stage on the barge
In addition to the LVSA, Mjoen is monitoring the status of the other two pieces of the SLS Integrated Spacecraft and Payload Element, the ICPS and the Orion Stage Adapter
The ICPS is a modified United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta Cryogenic Second Stage that serves as the “in-space” stage for the SLS Block 1 vehicle
The Orion Stage Adaptor is the spacecraft to launch vehicle adapter for Orion launches
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