NASA engineers load a structural test version of the Orion Stage Adapter for NASA’s Space Launch System onto NASA’s Super Guppy Aircraft at the Redstone Arsenal Airfield in Huntsville, Alabama, for delivery to Lockheed Martin in Denver. The OSA connects NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System, which will give the spacecraft its big, in-space boost to fly around the moon in its first integrated flight with SLS. Built at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, the OSA was used in integrated structural testing for the top of the SLS rocket and will be used in similar testing with Orion at Lockheed. The Guppy has a cargo compartment that is 25 feet tall, 25 feet wide and 111 feet long and can carry up to 24 tons. The aircraft has a unique hinged nose that can open 110 degrees, allowing large pieces of cargo to be loaded and unloaded from the front.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given