Orion Stage Adapter move to Redstone Airfield

NASA's Super Guppy aircraft arrives to the U.S. Army’s Redstone Airfield in Huntsville, Alabama, April 2, to pick up flight hardware for NASA’s Space Launch System – its new, deep-space rocket that will enable astronauts to begin their journey to explore destinations far into the solar system. The Guppy will depart on Tuesday, April 3 to deliver the Orion stage adapter to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for flight preparations. On Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of the SLS and the Orion spacecraft, the adapter will connect Orion to the rocket and carry 13 CubeSats as secondary payloads. Rumaasha Maasha, an aerospace engineer in Marshall's Spacecraft & Vehicle Systems Department, tours the cockpit of NASA's Super Guppy aircraft April 3 when it landed at Marshall to pick up the Orion stage adapter for transportation to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Maasha holds a master's degree in aerospace engineering, is a certified aviation maintenance tech and pilot and previously worked as a 747 loadmaster and airline refueler.