The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 4, 2022, ahead of its second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. (Credits: NASA/Frank Michaux)
United Launch Alliance Mission Information
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket will launch Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spacecraft on its Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station. OFT-2 is the second uncrewed flight of the Starliner that will demonstrate the spacecraft’s human transportation capabilities. This test flight is the last major step before the Atlas V and Boeing’s Starliner capsule take American astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Launch Date and Time: Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 6:54 p.m. EDT (2254 UTC) Webcast: Begins May 19 at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 UTC)
Adranos tactical-scale solid rocket motor test fire completed in 2021. (Credit: Adranos)
The solid rocket motor manufacturer will use the investment to advance R&D and scale its production capacity to meet growing customer demand
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (Adranos PR) — Adranos, Inc, the West Lafayette, Indiana-based startup that manufactures next-generation solid rocket motors, today announced a $20 million Series A funding round with participation from Bob Bishop and other principals at Impala Asset Management LLC and several other entities, including Explorer1 Fund, Elevate Ventures, and Specific Impulse Capital. This round brings the total capital raised by the company to date to over $25 million.
Technicians at Northrop Grumman’s factory in Promontory, Utah, lift one of the first booster motors cast for the Artemis IV mission. All 10 Artemis II booster motors are complete and ready for transportation by train to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they will be stacked with other booster components being outfitted at Kennedy. All 10 segments for Artemis III have been cast with propellant. (Credit: Northrop Grumman)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — NASA has awarded the Booster Production and Operations Contract (BPOC) to Northrop Grumman of Brigham City, Utah, to build boosters for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to support nine SLS flights. Northrop Grumman, the lead booster contractor, has produced booster motors for the first three Artemis missions and is casting the motors for the fourth lunar mission.
This contract, with a value of $3.19 billion, definitizes a letter contract awarded in June 2020 that authorized Northrop Grumman to order long-lead items and build twin boosters for the next six SLS flights. The period of performance extends through Dec. 31, 2031. This includes production and operations for boosters for Artemis IV-VIII and design, development, test, and evaluation of a booster as part of Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) for Artemis IX.
“This contract award ensures NASA will have the most powerful solid rocket boosters ever built for future Space Launch System rockets for the Artemis missions to the Moon,” said Bruce Tiller, SLS Booster Manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “The contract allows NASA to work with Northrop Grumman to not only build the boosters for upcoming missions but also to evolve and improve the boosters for future flights.”
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Stacking is complete for the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Artemis I mission. Over several weeks, workers used one of five massive cranes to place 10 booster segments and nose assemblies on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems placed the first segment on Nov. 21, 2020, and continued the process until […]
The manufacture and checkout of all 10 motor segments for the first Artemis flight were completed in January at Northrop Grumman’s factory in Promontory, Utah. (Credits: Northrop Grumman)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — NASA has taken the next steps toward building Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters to support as many as six additional flights, for a total of up to nine Artemis missions. The agency is continuing to work with Northrop Grumman of Brigham City, Utah, the current lead contractor for the solid rocket boosters that will launch the first three Artemis missions, including the mission that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024.
The second and final qualification motor (QM-2) test for the Space Launch System’s booster is seen, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems test facilities in Promontory, Utah. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Solid Rocket Motors:
DOD and Industry Are Addressing Challenges to Minimize Supply Concerns
Government Accountability Office
October 2017
GAO-18-45 [Full Report]
Why GAO Did This Study
DOD relies on a multi-tiered supply chain to provide SRMs, the propulsion systems behind the various missile systems that provide defense capabilities to meet U.S. national security objectives. The SRM industrial base includes manufacturers that turn to an extensive network of suppliers that provide the raw materials, components, and subsystems needed to build SRMs. DOD is responsible for developing a strategy for the national industrial base that ensures that defense contractors and their suppliers are capable of providing the goods and services needed to achieve national security objectives.
