Our Sites

First pieces of NASA's Orion for next mission come together at Michoud

NASA is another small step closer to sending astronauts on a journey to Mars. Engineers at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have welded together the first two segments of the Orion crew module that will fly atop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on a mission beyond the far side of the moon.

The primary structure of the crew module is made of seven large aluminum pieces that must be welded together in detailed fashion. The first weld connects the tunnel to the forward bulkhead, which is at the top of the spacecraft and houses many of Orion's critical systems, such as the parachutes that deploy during re-entry. Orion's tunnel, with a docking hatch, will allow crews to move between the crew module and other spacecraft.

"Each of Orion's systems and subsystems is assembled or integrated onto the primary structure, so starting to weld the underlying elements together is a critical first manufacturing step," said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager.

The engineers’ weld preparation process was meticulous. They cleaned the segments, coated them with a protective chemical, and primed them. They then outfitted each element with strain gauges and wiring to monitor the metal during the fabrication process. Before working on the pieces, technicians practiced their process and ensured proper tooling configurations by welding together a full-scale version of the current spacecraft design.

Through collaborations across design and manufacturing, teams have been able to reduce the number of welds for the crew module by more than half since the first test version of Orion's primary structure was constructed and flown on the Exploration Flight Test-1 last December. The Exploration Mission-1 structure will include just seven main welds, plus several smaller welds for start and stop holes left by welding tools. Fewer welds will result in a lighter spacecraft.

During the coming months as other pieces of Orion's primary structure arrive at Michoud from machine houses across the country, engineers will inspect and evaluate them to ensure they meet precise design requirements before welding. Once complete, the structure will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be assembled with the other elements of the spacecraft, integrated with SLS, and processed before launch.