Marshall at 65: The Empowered 2020s – and Beyond - NASA

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March 13, 2020:

In the wake of the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, which struck in the United States in January 2020, Marshall follows strict government guidelines and locks down on this date. To help curb the spread of COVID across Alabama and the nation, all Marshall civil service employees and contractors were restricted to telework, except those pursuing mission-essential activities. Yet the team continued to achieve dramatic wins, working remotely with center colleagues and partner organizations around the world to continue progress on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, maintain round-the-clock science communications with the International Space Station crews, and achieve a host of NASA science, engineering, and propulsion systems milestones. NASA’s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) at Marshall even took up the fight against COVID itself, coordinating a campaign to 3D-print more than 40,000 face shields for Alabama medical personnel – and delivering a sustainable commercial model for future rapid production of personal protective equipment. More than 104 million cases of COVID were reported in the United States between 2020-2023, and more than 1.1 million Americans died. Marshall lifted most telework restrictions in May 2022 – but the tempo barely slowed throughout the pandemic as the team rose to meet every challenge it was given.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leadership held a virtual town hall March 24.

Marshall adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown by shifting to telework and virtual team meetings, such as this virtual town hall held in March 2022 with former Marshall Director Jody Singer, upper right, and Associate Director Rae Ann Meyer, lower left. “Life has thrown us for a loop,” Meyer said, “but Marshall has thrived due to your dedication to the mission.”

NASA

Sept. 2, 2020:

NASA and Northrop Grumman, lead contractor for the Space Launch System solid rocket boosters, conduct the first test-firing of the booster on this date at Northrup Grumman’s T-97 test facility in Promontory, Utah. The full-scale booster ignited successfully and fired for two minutes, enabling NASA and Northrup Grumman to evaluate the flight performance of the booster. The hot-fire test also demonstrated a new motor ignition system and electronic thrust vector control system, and enabled NASA to evaluate new materials and processes to aid future booster performance. The SLS boosters, flown in pairs, are the largest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight, providing more than 75% of the thrust needed to launch Artemis Program missions to serve NASA’s future deep-space exploration goals.

NASA Completes Flight Support Booster Test for Future SLS Flights

NASA’s first test of the Space Launch System’s Flight Support Booster-1 (FSB-1) ignites the full-scale booster for two minutes at the T-97 test facility in Promontory, Utah.

NASA

Dec. 9, 2021:

On this date, NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and deployed to an equatorial orbit nearly 340 miles above Earth. From there, it measures polarized X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources thousands to billions of light-years from Earth, such as neutron stars, blazars, supernova remnants, and high-energy particle streams spewing from the vicinity of black holes at nearly the speed of light. Polarization is a property of light that identifies its source, aiding researchers in determining the geometry and inner workings of the ultra-powerful energy sources from which that light emanates. Designed, built, and overseen at Marshall, IXPE is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency. BAE Systems’ Space & Mission Systems division in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations in partnership with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.

A gif of IXPE deploying in space before starting its science operations to study the cosmos.

A gif of IXPE deploying in space before starting its science operations to study the cosmos.

NASA

Nov. 16, 2022:

Artemis I flies! On this date, NASA launches its newest flagship vehicle, successfully testing the Space Launch System (SLS) during the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Its mission lasted 25 days, 10 hours, and 53 minutes, and covered a total distance of 1.4 million miles. It met its main objective: flight-testing the Orion spacecraft and its heat shield in preparation for subsequent Artemis flights. The Artemis Program will lift a new generation of explorers to the Moon and enable bolder, longer, more robust science and discovery missions into our solar system. Marshall led SLS design, development, and construction and continues to manage the rocket for the agency.

Artemis I lifts off from Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2022, ushering in the next great era of human space exploration.

NASA

June 28, 2023:

Marshall’s acclaimed Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) leads the center to its seventh NASA Small Business Administrator’s Cup, an annual award created in 2008 to recognize sustained, exemplary contributions to NASA’s small business program. Marshall is the only NASA center to win the Administrator’s Cup more than three times, having previously received the honor in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2019.

David Brock, center, accepts the NASA Small Business Administrator’s Cup in 2015 from former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

David Brock, center, accepts the 2014 NASA Small Business Administrator’s Cup from former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right, and Glenn Delgado, former associate administrator of NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs. Brock has been Marshall’s small business specialist since 2005 and since 2019 also manages NASA’s successful Mentor-Protégé Program.

NASA

February 15, 2024:

The Nova-C lander is launched via SpaceX Falcon 9, marking the first Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) from lander developer Intuitive Machines of Houston. Among the six NASA payloads the lander carried to the Moon was the Marshall-led Lunar Node 1 (LN-1) experiment, an autonomous navigation beacon designed to send precise geolocation support to orbiters, landers, and surface personnel, digitally confirming their positions relative to other spacecraft and ground crews. CLPS is a collaboration with U.S. aerospace companies to deliver science and technology to the Moon, preparing the way for Artemis-era human explorers. Companies bid to deliver payloads, including launching from Earth, landing on the Moon, and integrating and operating the payloads.

The Nova-C lunar lander sits in front of an American flag with dramatic lighting against it. — IM-1, the first NASA Commercial Launch Program Services launch for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, will carry multiple payloads to the Moon, including Lunar Node-1, demonstrating autonomous navigation via radio beacon to support precise geolocation and navigation among lunar orbiters, landers, and surface personnel. NASA’s CLPS initiative oversees industry development of small robotic landers and rovers to support NASA’s Artemis campaign.
NASA/Intuitive Machines

Odysseus passes over the near side of the Moon after entering lunar orbit insertion on February 21. Credit: Intuitive Machines

A view of Earth and one of Odysseus’ fuel pressurant tanks aboard the IM-1 mission. Intuitive Machines is a commercial company that has been contracted by NASA to send its science and technology instruments to the Moon. Colombia Sportswear is a commercial payload contracted with Intuitive Machines. — A view of Earth and one of Odysseus’ fuel pressurant tanks aboard the IM-1 mission. Intuitive Machines is a commercial company that has been contracted by NASA to send its science and technology instruments to the Moon. Colombia Sportswear is a commercial payload contracted with Intuitive Machines. Credit: Intuitive Machines

June 22, 2024:

“NASA in the Park” makes its triumphant return to Big Spring Park in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The popular public event, designed to engage the community and share Marshall’s work in pursuit of the nation’s agenda in space, had been held annually since 2014, but was sidelined between 2019-2023 by the COVID pandemic. In its triumphant return in 2024, the event drew nearly 14,000 visitors, who toured interactive exhibits, met NASA team members, and learned all about Marshall’s development of the Space Launch System, its support for key Earth and space science missions, and its planning and development role in returning NASA explorers to the Moon and sending them on to Mars. Marshall’s history of local, regional, and national community outreach has included museum and convention stops in nearly all 50 states. The center’s world-class exhibits team has created memorable touring national showcases, including “The Vision for Space Exploration Experience,” which toured the country from 2005-2011, immersing 25,000 to 40,000 visitors each year in NASA’s goals to explore new worlds, unlock new scientific knowledge, and safeguard lives and resources all across our homeworld. On the largest stages or one-on-one, Marshall team members never tire of sharing their commitment to NASA’s mission.

An RS-25 engine display attracts visitors during NASA in the Park. The display was one of several exhibits at Big Spring Park East highlighting NASA missions.

An RS-25 engine, one of the core stage engines used to lift NASA’s Space Launch System to space, is among the numerous exhibits and displays that attracted more than 14,000 visitors to Marshall’s “NASA in the Park” celebration June 22, 2024, in Huntsville’s Big Spring Park East. (NASA) 2024 at Big Springs Park Huntsville AL.

NASA/Charles Beason

July 26, 2024

NASA’s Pegasus barge gets a steady workout this summer, preparing for NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed orbit of the Moon since the Apollo era. On July 26, the core stage of the Space Launch System for Artemis II was loaded on the barge at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, where it was built and tested, to begin the 900-mile water journey to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Aug. 21, the Pegasus barge visited Marshall, picking up Artemis II’s launch vehicle stage adapter to begin its own sea passage to Kennedy. Artemis II is scheduled to launch in April 2026.

August 19, 2024

NASA Centennial Challenges makes the second of two major 2024 prize announcements, awarding $1.25 million to three winning teams in the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge, which encouraged enterprising individuals, small businesses, and students to develop novel food production solutions providing safe, nutritious, tasty food options for long-duration human exploration missions. In June, NASA awarded $1.5 million in prizes to two winning teams in the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, which sought development of new technologies to support a sustained human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. The awards are two of the largest since the program’s creation in 2005, initiated to engage diverse and non-traditional private entrepreneurs in the development of vital new space exploration technologies and solutions. Competitors are not supported by government funding and awards are made to successful teams only when the challenges are met. Centennial Challenges is part of NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program.

A man in a yellow vest, hat, and backpack uses a controller to drive his robot up a 30 degree incline outdoors. — Todd Mendenhall of Terra Engineering guides his robot along the course for the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA

The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville. With the Terra Engineering team at the awards ceremony are from left, Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University president; Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Marshall Space Flight center director; NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, and Majed El-Dweik, Alabama A&M University’s vice president of Research & Economic Development. — The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville. With the Terra Engineering team at the awards ceremony are from left, Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University president; Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Marshall Space Flight center director; NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, and Majed El-Dweik, Alabama A&M University’s vice president of Research & Economic Development.
NASA/Jonathan Deal

Five members of the Interstellar Lab team stand on stage holding a large check for $750,000 alongside two challenge representatives. — Interstellar Lab, a small business comprised of team members from France, Texas, and Florida, took home the $750,000 grand prize for their food system, NUCLEUS, which uses a multi-pronged approach to growing and harvesting food outputs for astronauts on long-duration human space exploration missions.
OSU/CFAES/Kenneth Chamberlain

Nutritional Closed-Loop Eco-Unit System, or NUCLEUS, developed by Interstellar Lab of Merritt Island, Florida, is a self-sustaining food production system yielding fresh greens, vegetables, mushrooms, and insects, which could provide nutrients for long-term space missions.
Credits: NASA/Methuselah Foundation

Sept. 1, 2024

Every year, Marshall kicks off its annual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) drive on or around this date. Overseen by the Office of Personnel Management, CFC is the national workplace fundraiser for federal employees and retirees that rallies them to raise money for charities and volunteer their time for worthy causes. It’s one of the largest and most successful workplace goodwill campaigns, having raised nearly $8.7 billion for charities over the past 60 years – and NASA was part of the effort from the start in 1964. In the past 20 years alone, Marshall team members have contributed more than $9.1 million via CFC. Thousands of them also have volunteered tens of thousands of hours over the years, staffing food banks and animal rescue shelters, building wheelchair ramps, wrapping holiday presents for children in need, visiting elder care facilities, and finding numerous other ways to give their time and attention to local and regional charitable organizations.

Attendees at the Food Truck Corral at Redstone Arsenal listen as Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer speaks during Marshall’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) kickoff and charity fair Oct. 25.

Marshall team members come out in force each year to support the Combined Federal Campaign – and not just because recent kickoff rallies and charity fairs have been held at Marshall’s Food Truck Corral, as seen in this 2022 photo.

NASA

Looking to the Future

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has a bright future, in large part thanks to its rich history and tremendous spirit of innovation. The center’s next 65 years will be driven by its dynamic workforce and wealth of partnerships, all of which are equipped with unique capabilities and deep technical expertise. Marshall will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, connecting NASA with the community and inspiring future generations of explorers, for the benefit of all humanity. The path to the Moon and Mars goes through Alabama!

More Marshall Decades

Launch of the uncrewed Apollo 6 mission in April 1968

60s

From its auspicious start as NASA’s lead center for propulsion systems and launch vehicle development, Marshall begins carving a 65-year legacy of ingenuity and dedicated service to the U.S. space program.

Skylab as it appeared to the final crew upon its departure

70s

The 1970s are a period of transition, expanded scientific study, and engineering innovation at Marshall, as NASA concludes the Apollo Program and the next great era of space exploration takes shape.

With Marshall’s administrative headquarters in the background, the Space Shuttle Enterprise heads south on Rideout Road.

80s

Space shuttle propulsion and Spacelab program science drive much of Marshall’s pioneering work in the 1980s, ushering in three decades of science operations in low Earth orbit.

Lightning Over the Historic Test Stand

90s

The 1990s prove busier than ever, with Marshall supporting a host of NASA missions, refining space shuttle propulsion systems, and delivering the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

00s

The 2000s usher in Marshall’s most diverse portfolio yet, including work on the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory, its “backbone” truss, multipurpose science racks, and the Microgravity Science Glovebox.

10s

Marshall concludes its 40-year propulsion oversight for the Space Shuttle Program and takes on oversight of the Space Launch System, NASA’s mightiest launch vehicle to date

An orange rocket lifts off from a launchpad. The sky is black, but the fire coming from the engines lights up the surrounding area, highlighting clouds of white vapor spreading across the ground.

20s and Beyond

Marshall meets the 2020s with enthusiasm and expertise, overseeing the Space Launch System rocket booster test-firing in the Utah desert and the maiden voyage of the uncrewed SLS rocket during Artemis I.

Marshall 65

For 65 years, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has shaped or supported nearly every facet of the nation’s ongoing mission of space exploration and discovery, solving the most complex, technical flight challenges and contributing to science to improve life and protect resources around the world.