The Manufacturers Behind the Artemis Missions

After Artemis II’s triumphant trip around the moon earlier this year, NASA and America’s manufacturers have moved one step closer to returning American astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo program. It’s time to appreciate the many manufacturers that have made these missions possible—and will power the next mission, Artemis III, in 2027.

The big picture: More than 2,700 suppliers from 47 states have contributed to all parts of the Artemis program, from the lunar space port, to the Orion spacecraft, to the Space Launch System rocket that launches the crew through Earth’s atmosphere, to the landing systems and space suits and lunar rovers (Manufacturing Digital). Here are just a few of their stellar contributions.
 
Lockheed Martin: The manufacturer of Orion, the most advanced deep-space vehicle ever launched into space, has engineered a craft that maintains the crew’s safety and health, blocks radiation from damaging the system, ensures a “safe and comfortable” reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and boasts state-of-the-art communication and navigation features.

Boeing: The SLS’s core stage, built by Boeing, is an engineering feat that lifts Orion and the upper stage into low Earth orbit before falling away.

• The SLS core stage, the tallest ever built by NASA at 212 feet tall and 27.6 feet in diameter, houses four engines and the liquid hydrogen and oxygen needed to fuel them, along with the avionics and electronics that will guide the rocket on its course.

Northrop Grumman: The solid rocket boosters for the SLS, created by Northrop Grumman, are the most powerful human-rated motors ever manufactured, according to the company.

• The company also produced components of Orion’s Launch Abort System and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost—the first pressurized module for the Gateway, a temporary home for astronauts that will orbit the moon.

Bechtel: With such enormous and complex systems to support, NASA needed a launch platform that was up to the job.

• Bechtel’s Mobile Launcher 2, standing at 377 feet, allows NASA to transport and service the SLS—and it withstands the tremendous heat (2,200 degrees Fahrenheit), blast pressures (above 130 psi) and thrust (more than 8.9 million pounds) of the launch itself.

Constellium: The components of Orion and the SLS must be of the finest quality, able to weather the immense strain of space flight without failure. Constellium’s aluminum and aluminum-lithium alloys meet those criteria, making up structural elements in the SLS core stage and the Orion spacecraft.
 
Click Bond: Thanks to Click Bond’s adhesive-mounted fasteners, components and systems could be secured to the SLS and Orion without drilling.
 
David Clark Company: If the cabin were to lose pressure, the astronauts could live inside their space suits, made by the David Clark Company, for six days.

• These suits supply the astronauts with oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, maintain a stable temperature and safeguard them from smoke or fire.

The Wing Group: Once the spacecraft touches down in the ocean, the astronauts must be helped out of the craft and ferried to shore.

• The Wing Group supplied the Orion life raft that traveled aboard the spacecraft, as well as boats, dry suits and personal flotation devices used by rescue crews.

The last word: As NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said as Artemis II lifted off, “As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, this mission represents who we are and what we can achieve.”

• “Across this country, people will look up at the night sky and see what manufacturers in the United States can do—and decide to create, innovate and lead.”
• “We are proud of the people and companies behind this mission, and we are cheering on the Artemis II crew as they carry forward a legacy of American ingenuity. We look forward to their safe return.”