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SLS: Nasa 'megarocket' assembly begins in Florida:
Nasa has started assembling the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on a launch platform ahead of its maiden flight next year.
The SLS is the giant rocket that will send US astronauts back to the Moon this decade - with the first crewed landing targeted for 2024.
Engineers in Florida have begun stacking the segments that make up the vehicle's two solid rocket boosters.
[...] Teams at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida lowered the first of 10 booster segments into place on a structure known as the mobile launcher on 21 November. The process is taking place inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy.
The boosters will burn six tonnes of solid, aluminium-based propellant each second when the SLS launches. They provide 75% of the vehicle's thrust at lift-off.
The mobile launcher they're being stacked on is a 115m (380ft) -tall structure that's used to process and assemble the SLS before moving it to the launch pad.
It's a huge symbolic step, not only for the SLS - which has been under development for a decade - but also Nasa's plan to send the next man and the first woman to the lunar surface by 2024, known as Artemis.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday November 30 2020, @03:04PM (3 children)
That's a bit speculative. Biden hasn't announced any specific plans, just some people who would be in charge.
That said, there's often a "change of plans" when an election changes the folks in charge. This makes long term plans a bit difficult, whether they're good or not.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @03:19PM (1 child)
I'm worried when Kushner leaves there will be nobody to solve the Middle East crisis, nor reimagine the entire Federal government. Perhaps Joe Biden can tempt him to stay on and finish his important work [google.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:20PM
He is so busy he doesn't even have time to finish Jared Jr.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday December 01 2020, @01:14AM
Indeed - in fact that's why the SLS is still plodding forward despite the fact that it's likely to be obsolete before its first real launch. The program was packed with so much pork as to make it cancel-proof, after previous programs were canceled when administrations changed.
Sadly, but not surprisingly, faced with a cost-plus contract that couldn't realistically be cancelled, the contractors are grossly over budget and far behind schedule.