Artemis IV Orion Pressure Vessel Shipped to KSC

Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans prepare the completed Orion pressure vessel for the Artemis IV mission for shipment to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The pressure vessel, which was assembled by lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, is the Orion crew module primary structure – the core upon which all other elements of Orion’s crew module are integrated. The structure is critical to Artemis crews as it holds the pressurized atmosphere astronauts breathe and work in a while in the vacuum of deep space.

Once the module arrives at Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building high bay, teams will begin integration of the pressure vessel with the Orion spacecraft crew module adapter and other assembly. With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for human exploration of the Moon and on to Mars.

NASA ID: MAF_20230208_ArtIV_ CMPack11 Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker larger image