A virtual glimpse into our Artemis 1 mission … A key piece of hardware arrives for our Orion spacecraft … And a testing milestone for our Space Launch System rocket … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Animated Video of Artemis 1 Launch

We’ve got an online video that shows what you can expect to see during the upcoming launch of our Artemis 1 mission – the first uncrewed integrated flight test of our Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System or SLS rocket. The video shows the pre-launch sequence at our Kennedy Space Center in Florida and all the flight operations. The primary goal of Artemis 1 is to assure a safe crew module entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery. You can check out the video at go.nasa.gov/artemis321.

Heat Shield for Artemis 2 Mission Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

On July 10, the heat shield that will protect astronauts during the re-entry phase of the Artemis 2 mission – the first flight of SLS and Orion with a crew – was transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at our Kennedy Space Center, for assembly and integration with the Orion crew module. Artemis 2, the first flight of humans to the Moon aboard Orion and SLS, will confirm all spacecraft systems operate as designed in the actual environment of deep space with astronauts aboard. Our Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon by 2024.

SLS Rocket Testing Ensures Astronaut Safety, Mission Success

A milestone at our Marshall Space Flight Center, where structural testing of our Space Launch System rocket is more than halfway complete: The rocket’s liquid oxygen tank structural test article – the last structural test article – was recently delivered for testing. Testing is a critical part of ensuring the safety of the crew and the success of our missions as we prepare to make the next giant leaps off our planet – forward to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

We hope you will join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of our first giant leap – the Apollo 11 Moon mission. We’ll look back on the historic mission and forward to the future of exploration to the Moon and Mars with a live, two-hour television broadcast at 1 p.m. Eastern on  Friday July 19, followed by a special STEM-education themed show at 3 p.m. Other partner-led events are taking place across the country July 16 through July 20. A programming note – due to the Apollo 11 coverage, the next This Week @NASA will air on July 22 instead of July 19.

A scientific team at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, used synthetic aperture radar data from a Japanese satellite to produce a map showing damage from two strong earthquakes that rattled Southern California on July 4 and July 5 – a magnitude 6.4 and 7.1, respectively. Each color cycle represents 4.8 inches of ground displacement in the radar line-of-sight. Officials are using the map to assess damages and to map the faults that broke during the quakes as well as the thousands of aftershocks that have followed.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA …