Posted on: 5:44 pm, March 14, 2014, by David Wood, updated on: 09:09pm, March 14, 2014

Marshall Space Flight Centers SLS Testing & Operation Integration Laboratory (PHOTO: David Wood, WHNT)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) -NASA Administrator Charles Bolden today toured the agencys Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville where testing is underway on the avionics unit for the largest, most powerful rocket ever built.

At Marshalls System Integration Laboratory, Bolden, along with staff from Alabamas congressional delegation and community leaders, had the opportunity to view the Space Launch System (SLS) avionics unit arranged in flight configuration, along with booster hardware, which are being integrated and tested together to ultimately guide the entire vehicle. He also watched flight software simulations of how SLS will perform during launch.

Its great to be back at Marshall and see, firsthand, the impressive progress made by the SLS team, said Bolden. SLS will help take American astronauts an asteroid and Mars, and it all starts here in Huntsville. My hats off to the entire team for their hard work.

The completed rocket will stand 321 feet tall and include the core stage, which stores the cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will fuel the vehicles four RS-25 engines and, with two five-segment solid rocket boosters, power the rocket.

The avionics unit including its hardware, software and operating systems will guide the rocket to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars. The flight computers will be housed in the SLS core stage, while other avionics are distributed throughout the vehicle.

Engineers from NASA and Boeing, the prime contract for the SLS core stage and avionics, integrated and powered up the core stage avionics unit for its initial run, called First Light, in early January and have since been running numerous tests using the latest flight software.

This is a significant and exciting milestone for both NASA and Boeing, said Lisa Blue, stages avionics system manager in the SLS Program Office. We are using and testing technologies that include the most powerful computer processor ever used in a flight system.

In 2015, the avionics unit will be shipped to NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the core stage is being manufactured, and attached to the actual rocket.

Read this article:

NASA Administrator Visits Marshall, Views Space Launch System Progress, Talks Budget