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Lesser Known History

Weldabeast said:
And u always got a monkey on ur back
Click to expand...
Well I just learned about the weeki wachee mermaids after googling the words on that truck, so brought it back to some forgotten history for myself lol although since the show still exists I dunno if it's history. Bet it's a bit different than the first one in 1947 though
 
It may not be considered history yet but once the Artemis 1 actually gets off of the ground, it will write new history in space flight. This last May, I was contracted to go to NASA's, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I was there to upgrade the Friction Stir Welder that welds each of the aluminum panels together to form the outer structure of all of NASA's space vehicles.

While I was there they were constructing the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter for Artemis III. I was able to take pictures and video while in the facility, which surprised me.

Below is a mock up of the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter for Artemis series rockets. This one won't be used, it was just a mock up prior to production.

Launch Stage Adapter.jpg



The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is a cone shaped aluminum fabrication consisting of two conical halves welded together. The pictures below show the upper and lower halves of the real McCoy that will be part of the Artemis III manned space flight.

Launch Stage Adapter 2.jpg

Launch Stage Adapter 1.jpg

Each panel starts out as a 2" thick aluminum panel and the inside of the panel is machined out to reduce weight but still maintain it's strength. The machined panels are then formed with a slight radius then each of the panels are friction stir welded together. Below is a picture of the inside of the welded structure.

Launch Stage Adapter 4.jpg

The Artemis rockets will be propelled by 4 Pratt & Whitney, Rocketdyne RS-25 engines in addition to two solid fuel rocket boosters combining for 8.8 million pounds of thrust. The life expectancy for the RS-25 engines is 8.5 minutes and they will burn 12,000 pounds of fuel per second.

Launch Stage Adapter 5.jpg
Launch Stage Adapter 6.jpg

Below is a short video I took while NASA's workers were moving the smaller of the two sections.


This is the machine I was sent to work on.

Launch Stage Adapter 7.jpgLaunch Stage Adapter 8.jpg
 
ricky racer said:
It may not be considered history yet but once the Artemis 1 actually gets off of the ground, it will write new history in space flight. This last May, I was contracted to go to NASA's, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I was there to upgrade the Friction Stir Welder that welds each of the aluminum panels together to form the outer structure of all of NASA's space vehicles.

While I was there they were constructing the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter for Artemis III. I was able to take pictures and video while in the facility, which surprised me.

Below is a mock up of the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter for Artemis series rockets. This one won't be used, it was just a mock up prior to production.

View attachment 70689



The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is a cone shaped aluminum fabrication consisting of two conical halves welded together. The pictures below show the upper and lower halves of the real McCoy that will be part of the Artemis III manned space flight.

View attachment 70692

View attachment 70695

Each panel starts out as a 2" thick aluminum panel and the inside of the panel is machined out to reduce weight but still maintain it's strength. The machined panels are then formed with a slight radius then each of the panels are friction stir welded together. Below is a picture of the inside of the welded structure.

View attachment 70696

The Artemis rockets will be propelled by 4 Pratt & Whitney, Rocketdyne RS-25 engines in addition to two solid fuel rocket boosters combining for 8.8 million pounds of thrust. The life expectancy for the RS-25 engines is 8.5 minutes and they will burn 12,000 pounds of fuel per second.

View attachment 70698
View attachment 70699

Below is a short video I took while NASA's workers were moving the smaller of the two sections.


This is the machine I was sent to work on.

View attachment 70700View attachment 70701
Click to expand...
You were in our backyard and you didn't even stop by or say hey? What a shame! I work for a company that makes one of stage adapters.
 
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