Our James Webb Space Telescope team has reached another milestone in the critical process of aligning the telescope’s mirrors. Webb Space Telescope Reaches Alignment Milestone The primary goals for Artemis I are to demonstrate Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and ensure a safe re-entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery ahead of the first flight with astronauts on Artemis II. This involves loading the rocket’s fuel tanks with propellant and conducting a launch countdown. After the 4-mile journey from Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B, the integrated SLS rocket and Orion will eventually undergo a final prelaunch test known as the wet dress rehearsal. On March 17, teams at our Kennedy Space Center began the rollout of the Space Launch System or SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for our upcoming Artemis I Moon mission. The arrays will eventually help increase the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts. So far, two of six iROSAs have been deployed on station, with the other four arrays to be delivered on future missions.

They built a support bracket onto which a future ISS roll out solar array or iROSA will be mounted. On March 15, NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Raja Chari conducted a 6-hour and 54-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station to prepare the station for upcoming solar array upgrades. Preparing the Space Station for Solar Array Upgrades And the Webb Space Telescope team reaches another milestone … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

International space station telescope