Baton Hand-Off from EGS Team to Artemis I Launch Team

A baton is passed from Cliff Lanham, at left, ground operations manager with Exploration Ground Systems, to Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis I launch director, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 16, 2022. Behind them is the Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) with the Orion spacecraft atop on the mobile launcher. The SLS and Orion will make the trek to Launch Complex 39B for a wet dress rehearsal ahead of launch atop the crawler-transporter 2. Artemis I will be the first integrated test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft. In later missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.