NASA Stennis Crews Continue Exploration Upper Stage Preparations

A pair of umbilical support structures needed for future testing of NASA’s exploration upper stage (EUS) were installed in the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand on Oct. 30-31 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The support structures arrived from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans via the unique NASA Stennis seven-and-a-half-mile canal system in 2023. Since then, crews have prepared the structures that will align with the EUS unit for installation. In addition to helping secure the unit in place during hot fire testing, the umbilical support structures are where the command, control, and data electrical connections are mated to connect the ground systems to the vehicle systems, as well as most the commodity connections such as liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, hydrogen vent, helium bottle fill pressure, and purges. Prior to its initial flight, the EUS unit will undergo a series of so-called Green Run tests at NASA Stennis to ensure all systems are ready to go. The test series will culminate with a hot fire of the stage’s four RL10 engines, made by Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and lead SLS engines contractor. The new upper stage will enable NASA to carry larger payloads on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.