[meteorite-list] NASA's Space Launch System Program Kicks Off Preliminary Design Review

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:36:54 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201306191836.r5JIasnp012839_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

June 19, 2013

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft at nasa.gov

Kimberly Henry
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
kimberly.m.henry at nasa.gov

RELEASE: 13-189

NASA'S SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM PROGRAM KICKS OFF PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEW

WASHINGTON -- NASA is beginning a preliminary design review for its
Space Launch System (SLS). This major program assessment will allow
development of the agency's new heavy-lift rocket to move from
concept to initial design.

The preliminary design review process includes meticulous, detailed
analyses of the entire launch vehicle. Representatives from NASA, its
contractor partners and experts from across the aerospace industry
validate elements of the rocket to ensure they can be safely and
successfully integrated.

"This phase of development allows us to take a critical look at every
design element to ensure it's capable of carrying humans to places
we've never been before," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate
administrator for exploration systems development in Washington.
"This is the rocket that will send humans to an asteroid and Mars, so
we want to be sure we get its development right."

The review process will take several weeks and is expected to conclude
this summer.

"The preliminary design review is incredibly important, as it
demonstrates the SLS design meets all system requirements within
acceptable risk constraints, giving us the green light for proceeding
with the detailed design," said Todd May, manager of the SLS Program
at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "We are on
track and meeting all the milestones necessary to fly in 2017."

The SLS is targeted for a test launch with no crew aboard in 2017,
followed by a mission with astronauts to study an asteroid by as
early as 2021. NASA is developing the SLS and its new Orion
spacecraft to provide an entirely new capability for human
exploration. It will be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew
and cargo missions, expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and
enable new missions of exploration in the solar system.

For more information on SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls
        
-end-
Received on Wed 19 Jun 2013 02:36:54 PM PDT