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By NASA
Teams with NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) rehearse recovery procedures for a launch pad abort scenario off the coast of Florida near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. NASA/Isaac Watson NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) teamed up June 11 and 12 to simulate emergency procedures they would use to rescue the Artemis II crew in the event of a launch emergency. The simulations, which took place off the coast of Florida and were supported by launch and flight control teams, are preparing NASA to send four astronauts around the Moon and back next year as part of the agency’s first crewed Artemis mission.
The team rehearsed procedures they would use to rescue the crew during an abort of NASA’s Orion spacecraft while the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket is still on the launch pad, as well as during ascent to space. A set of test mannequins and a representative version of Orion called the Crew Module Test Article, were used during the tests.
The launch team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, flight controllers in mission control at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, as well as the mission management team, all worked together, exercising their integrated procedures for these emergency scenarios.
Teams with NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) rehearse recovery procedures for a launch pad abort scenario off the coast of Florida near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.NASA/Isaac Watson “Part of preparing to send humans to the Moon is ensuring our teams are ready for any scenario on launch day,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, NASA’s assistant deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program, and who also is chair of the mission management team for Artemis II. “We’re getting closer to our bold mission to send four astronauts around the Moon, and our integrated testing helps ensure we’re ready to bring them home in any scenario.”
The launch pad abort scenario was up first. The teams conducted a normal launch countdown before declaring an abort before the rocket was scheduled to launch. During a real pad emergency, Orion’s launch abort system would propel Orion and its crew a safe distance away and orient it for splashdown before the capsule’s parachutes would then deploy ahead of a safe splashdown off the coast of Florida.
Teams with NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) rehearse recovery procedures for a launch pad abort scenario off the coast of Florida near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. NASA/Isaac Watson For the simulated splashdown, the test Orion with mannequins aboard was placed in the water five miles east of Kennedy. Once the launch team made the simulated pad abort call, two Navy helicopters carrying U.S. Air Force pararescuers departed nearby Patrick Space Force Base. The rescuers jumped into the water with unique DoD and NASA rescue equipment to safely approach the spacecraft, retrieve the mannequin crew, and transport them for medical care in the helicopters, just as they would do in the event of an actual pad abort during the Artemis II mission.
The next day focused on an abort scenario during ascent to space.
The Artemis recovery team set up another simulation at sea 12 miles east of Kennedy, using the Orion crew module test article and mannequins. With launch and flight control teams supporting, as was the Artemis II crew inside a simulator at Johnson, the rescue team sprung into action after receiving the simulated ascent abort call and began rescue procedures using a C-17 aircraft and U.S. Air Force pararescuers. Upon reaching the capsule, the rescuers jumped from the C-17 with DoD and NASA unique rescue gear. In an actual ascent abort, Orion would separate from the rocket in milliseconds to safely get away prior to deploying parachutes and splashing down.
Teams with NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD) rehearse recovery procedures for an ascent abort scenario off the coast of Florida near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, June 12, 2025. NASA/Isaac Watson Rescue procedures are similar to those used in the Underway Recovery Test conducted off the California coast in March. This demonstration ended with opening the hatch and extracting the mannequins from the capsule, so teams stopped without completing the helicopter transportation that would be used during a real rescue.
Exercising procedures for extreme scenarios is part of NASA’s work to execute its mission and keep the crew safe. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars – for the benefit of all.
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By USH
Some time ago, while visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona, a photographer captured several short video clips of the landscape. In one of those clips, an unusual anomaly was discovered.
The original footage is only 1.9 seconds long, but within that moment, something remarkable was caught on camera. An unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) flashed across the frame, visible for less than a second, only noticeable when the video was paused and analyzed frame by frame.
The object was moving at an astonishing speed, covering an estimated two to three miles in under a second, far beyond the capabilities of any conventional aircraft, drone, or helicopter.
This isn’t the first time such anomalous flying objects have been observed. Their characteristics defy comparison with known aerial technology.
Some skeptics have proposed that the object might have been a rock thrown into the canyon from behind the camera. However, that explanation seems unlikely. Most people can only throw objects at speeds of 10 to 20 meters per second (approximately 22 to 45 mph). The velocity of this object far exceeded that range, and its near-invisibility in the unedited video suggests it was moving much faster.
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By NASA
NASA/Kevin O’Brien NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters are the largest, most powerful solid propellant boosters to ever fly. Standing 17 stories tall and burning approximately six tons of propellant every second, each booster generates 3.6 million pounds of a thrust for a total of 7.2 million pounds: more thrust than 14 four-engine jumbo commercial airliners. Together, the SLS twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total thrust at launch. Each booster houses eight booster separation motors which are responsible for separating the boosters from the core stage during flight.
At the top of each booster is the frustum—a truncated cone-shaped structure that, along with the nose cone, forms the aerodynamic fairing. This frustum houses four of the separation motors, while the remaining four are located at the bottom within the aft skirt.
Image Credit: NASA/Kevin O’Brien
For more information on the Artemis Campaign, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/artemis/
News Media Contact
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
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By NASA
3 Min Read I Am Artemis: Ernesto Garcia
Ernesto Garcia, engineering manager at Rayotech Scientific, Inc., holds a test article of one of the windowpanes for the Orion spacecraft. Credits: NASA/Rad Sinyak Listen to this audio excerpt from Ernesto Garcia, Rayotech Scientific engineering manager:
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My name is Ernesto Garcia, and I am an engineering manager at Rayotech Scientific in San Diego, in charge of fabricating the windowpanes for the Orion spacecraft.
Fabricating Orion’s windowpanes entails a very strict manufacturing process. It involves first starting from a giant sheet of glass that we cut down to near net shape. Once we get down to that near net shape, we perform a grinding operation. We grind the window edges and grind the faces.
The windows are visible on the Orion spacecraft crew module for Artemis I, shown here on May 2, 2019, undergoing direct field acoustic testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Rad Sinyak Once we do all that grinding, we perform a specialized process where we actually strengthen the edges of the window. Since most of the window’s strength comes from the edges, we want to make sure that those are perfect and pristine, and so we minimize any subsurface damage that is around that. Then we send it off to get polished and coated.
After that, we perform pressure testing in our lab, which is really the most important thing that is required for this window to prove that it can survive in space. We apply the required stresses to make sure that the windows can survive on the Orion spacecraft.
The opportunity to be part of this program has been something that I’m really proud of.
When I was a child, I always wanted to work for NASA — and now, I work directly with NASA engineers, work with the windows first-hand, and work to develop processes.
Ernesto Garcia
Engineering Manager, Rayotech Scientific
Coming up with ideas of how to manufacture [the windows] and then coming up with the pressure testing equipment to verify that they are going to survive in space was extremely fulfilling.
Being able to participate in Artemis I and seeing those windows on that [Orion spacecraft] — seeing it go into space — was probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced besides having my kids. My children are immensely proud of what I’m doing. Seeing my kids’ reactions when I’m letting them know that I’m working directly with people that are putting things in space, with people that are making changes in the world — it’s something that inspires them.
NASA astronauts and Artemis II crew members Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover look through a window of Orion spacecraft mockup during Post Insertion and Deorbit Preparation training at the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility in Houston, Texas. The crew practiced getting the Orion spacecraft configured once in orbit, how to make it habitable, and suited up in their entry pressure suits to prepare for their return from the Moon.Mark Sowa – NASA – JSC I imagine it will be a very special experience for the Artemis II astronauts to look out of these windows on their mission around the Moon. For them to be able to just look out and see what’s around them…to explore what else is out there from their eyes, not a camera’s point of view. It’s going to be pretty extraordinary that they’ll be able to see from their eyes — through our windows — something that not everybody else gets to see.
About the Author
Erika Peters
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Last Updated Jun 10, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Auburn University’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER),” won top prize in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum. National Institute of Aerospace A team from Auburn University took top honors in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum, where undergraduate and graduate teams competed to develop new concepts for operating on the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Auburn’s project, “Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER)” advised by Dr. Davide Guzzetti, took home top prize out of 14 Finalist Teams from academic institutions across the nation. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM),” advised by Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh. The University of Maryland took third place overall with their project, “Servicing Crane Outfitted Rover for Payloads, Inspection, Operations, N’stuff (SCORPION),” advised by Dr. David Akin, Nich Bolatto, and Charlie Hanner.
The first and second place overall winning teams will present their work at the 2025 AIAA Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in July.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took second place overall in NASA’s 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition Forum for their concept, “Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM).”National Institute of Aerospace The RASC-AL Competition, which took place from June 2-4, 2025, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, is a unique initiative designed to bridge the gap between academia and the aerospace industry, empowering undergraduate and graduate students to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world challenges in space exploration. This year’s themes included “Sustained Lunar Evolution – An Inspirational Moment,” “Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign,” and “Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot.”
“The RASC-AL Competition cultivates students who bring bold, imaginative thinking to the kinds of complex challenges we tackle at NASA,” said Dan Mazanek, RASC-AL program sponsor and senior space systems engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “These teams push the boundaries of what’s possible in space system design and offer new insights. These insights help build critical engineering capabilities, preparing the next generation of aerospace leaders to step confidently into the future of space exploration.”
As NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, the RASC-AL Competition stands as an opportunity for aspiring aerospace professionals to design real-world solutions to complex problems facing the Agency. By engaging with the next generation of innovators, NASA can collaborate with the academic community to crowd-source new solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.
Additional 2025 Forum Awards include:
Best in Theme: Sustained Lunar Evolution: An Inspirational Moment
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Project Title: Project Aeneas Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Best in Theme: Advanced Science Missions and Technology Demonstrators for Human-Mars Precursor Campaign
Auburn University Project Title: Dynamic Ecosystems for Mars ECLSS Testing, Evaluation, and Reliability (DEMETER) Advisor: Dr. Davide Guzzetti Best in Theme: Small Lunar Servicing and Maintenance Robot
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Project Title: Adaptive Device for Assistance and Maintenance (ADAM) Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh Best Prototype: South Dakota State University
Project Title: Next-gen Operations and Versatile Assistant (NOVA) Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher, Allea Klauenberg, Liam Murray, Alex Schaar, Nick Sieler, Dylan Stephens, Carter Waggoner
RASC-AL is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying disciplines related to human exploration, including aerospace, bio-medical, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and life, physical, and computer sciences. RASC-AL projects allow students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. Students have the opportunity to interact with NASA officials and industry experts and develop relationships that could lead to participation in other NASA student research programs.
RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org.
National Institute of Aerospace
About the Author
Joe Atkinson
Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
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Last Updated Jun 05, 2025 Related Terms
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