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NASA’s Artemis 2 mission took a significant step forward as the rocket’s core stage arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on July 23. This major component of the mission’s rocket was transported from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, covering a distance of 900 miles via the Pegasus barge. The complex seven-hour unloading process involved self-propelled modular transporters, which are remote-controlled vehicles designed for precise movement of heavy loads.

Once at KSC, the 212-foot-long core stage made a short journey to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepared for integration with the rest of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The stage will undergo several weeks of pre-processing on skid beams before moving on to the next phases of assembly and testing, according to Sean Arrieta, operations manager for integrated operations in exploration ground systems at KSC. In a live-streamed update, Arrieta expressed the team’s enthusiasm and readiness to work with the newly arrived hardware, acknowledging the efforts of the SLS team and Boeing, the manufacturer of the stage.

Artemis 2 aims to be the first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, featuring a diverse crew that includes NASA commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Glover will make history as the first Black astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit, while Koch and Hansen will be the first woman and non-American, respectively, to participate in a lunar mission.

Originally scheduled for an earlier launch, the mission has been delayed to no earlier than September 2025. This postponement, announced in January 2024, was partially due to issues with the heat shield that were discovered during the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in late 2022. While the troubleshooting continues, the team remains focused on assembling the Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket, as well as conducting extensive training for the crew.

The Artemis 2 mission represents a crucial step in NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon and eventually establish a sustainable presence there. The arrival of the core stage at KSC marks a significant milestone, bringing the mission closer to its goal of exploring deeper into space and paving the way for future lunar exploration.  Unfortunately for NASA, which is destroying itself with woke nonsense, accidents will increase, and morale will continue to decline as the Left moves to destroy the institution. DEI (Marxism) is running rampant thanks to Biden and Obama, and the best people are leaving for greener pastures, such as SpaceX where Elon Musk has a vision for the future, and an actual plan to colonize Mars as well as the Moon. Not just talk as NASA now does.

Major Points:

  • The core stage of Artemis 2’s rocket arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on July 23, transported 900 miles from New Orleans via NASA’s Pegasus barge.
  • The 212-foot stage was carefully offloaded using remote-controlled vehicles and moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building for several weeks of pre-processing.
  • The Artemis 2 mission is set to be the first crewed lunar mission since 1972, featuring a diverse crew, including the first Black astronaut, first woman, and first non-American to participate in a lunar mission.
  • The mission’s launch has been postponed to no earlier than September 2025, due in part to heat shield issues identified during the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in late 2022.
  • The arrival of the core stage at KSC marks a key milestone in NASA’s plans for deep space exploration and the eventual establishment of a sustainable lunar presence.

James Kravitz – Reprinted with permission of Whatfinger News