“Next year promises to be another exciting one at Earth’s largest spaceport,” said Kennedy Center Director Janet Petro. “We have an amazing workforce, and when we work together with industry and our other government partners, the sky’s the limit to what we can do.”
of NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP), owned by Kennedy, and its commercial partner SpaceX plan two crewed orbital missions to the International Space Station: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 and staff 11. It also means return. Staff-9 10 personnel during the mission and later in 2025. CCP continued to work with Boeing toward NASA certification of the company’s Starliner system for future crew rotation at the orbital laboratory.
“Operation 2025 is a testament to the careful planning of NASA’s workforce and the readiness to safely execute a critical series of missions that the agency can depend on,” said Dana Hutcherson, CCP’s deputy program manager. is.” “This is the 25th year of crewed operations for the space station, and we know that with each launch, we are maintaining a vital national asset and enabling ground-based research.”
NASA has also made several projects. Commercial Resupply Services mission, the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, and Sierra Space’s cargo spacecraft, Dream Chaser.. The mission will carry thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment and science probes to crews aboard the orbital laboratory from NASA Kennedy and the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
In addition to the agency’s crewed flights, Axiom Space’s fourth crewed private spaceflight mission, Axiom Mission 4 — managed by the International Space Station Program in collaboration with NASA and operated by SpaceX — will launch to the orbital outpost. .
NASA preparations Artemis II The test flight mission is progressing rapidly, with all major SLS (Space Launch System) hardware components undergoing processing at Kennedy, including the twin solid rocket boosters and the 212-foot-long core stage. Teams with EGS (Exploration Ground System) will continue to stack booster segments inside the spaceport’s VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). Later integration and testing of the rocket hardware and the Orion spacecraft will continue not only for the Artemis II mission, but Artemis III And Fourth. Technicians are also continuing construction of Mobile Launcher 2, which will serve as the launch and integration platform for the SLS Block 1B configuration launched from Artemis IV.
“Looking ahead to 2025, the teams will embark on a transformational year as we integrate the flight hardware for Artemis II, as well as lay the groundwork for future Artemis missions that will continue humanity’s presence on the Moon. will reestablish,” said Sean Quinn, EGS Program Manager.
An important part of Artemis Expedition, by NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) The initiative will continue to leverage commercial partnerships to rapidly land scientific instruments and technology demonstrations on the Moon. Firefly Aerospace’s first lunar CLPS flight, Blue Ghost Mission 1, will carry 10 of NASA’s science and technology instruments to the lunar surface, including Electrodynamic dust shieldA technology developed by Kennedy Engineers. Intuitive Machines, meanwhile, will launch its second CLPS flight to the Moon. Providing the first demonstration of resource utilization on the lunar surface, IM-2 Polar Resource Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1)including regolith and ice drills from Honeybee robotics to explore new terrain, as well as a Kennedy-built mass spectrometer to observe lunar operations. Both flights are targeted to lift off from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A during the first quarter of 2025.
In the development of Artemis IV and beyond, Gateway will be a critical platform for developing a sustained human presence beyond low-Earth orbit. Deep Space Logistics (DSL) The Gateway Program at Kennedy is the project office responsible for leading commercial supply chain development in deep space. In 2025, DSL will continue to develop the framework for the DSL-1 mission and work with commercial supplier SpaceX to mature the spacecraft design. Upcoming milestones include a system requirements review and preliminary design review to determine the program’s readiness to move forward with the detailed design phase supporting the agency’s Gateway program and Artemis IV mission objectives. .
of NASA Start the Services program. (LSP), based in Kennedy, is working to launch three ambitious missions. Launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California earlier this year, SPHEREx (Spectrophotometer for the History of the Universe, Reionization Era, and Ices Explorer) is a space telescope that surveys the universe using visible and near-infrared light, observing more colors than ever before and allowing astronomers to piece together a three-dimensional map of the universe with amazing precision. Allows. Launching with SPHEREx, NASA PUNCH (Polimeter to unify corona and heliosphere) The mission will study how the mass and energy of the Sun’s corona is transferred to the solar wind.
IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe)Launching from Cape Canaveral in late 2025, the Heliosphere will help protect and preserve the magnetic environment surrounding our solar system. Carrying 10 instruments to make its observations, the IMAP mission is targeting the L1 Lagrange Point, a region between Earth and the Sun that is easy for spacecraft to maintain orbit, as well as two Suns. Observational Rideshare Missions – NASA’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration SWFO-L1 (L1 on Space Weather Follow-on). Also to be launched on Falcon 9 from Vandenberg in late 2025 is the second of two identical satellites. Sentinel-6bwhich will monitor the oceans globally with exceptional accuracy. Its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Frelich, has been providing critical data since its launch in 2020, and Sentinel-6B will ensure the continuation of this mission through the 2030s.
“Our missions starting next year will include ground-based technologies to help us learn more about the universe and provide new data for researchers here on Earth,” said Jenny Lyons, LSP’s deputy program manager. There will be positive benefits.”
Program support for small satellite missions next year includes solar monitoring, climate data collection and more. of NASA Escape (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorer) The mission to explore Mars’ magnetosphere will take off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral on the inaugural flight of NASA’s Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. Some of these small satellite missions are part of NASA. CubeSat Launch Initiativewhich provides a unique opportunity for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technicians to conduct scientific research and develop and demonstrate new technologies in space.
The teams anticipate a busy year of building projects to accommodate new missions, hardware and milestones. In preparation for Artemis IV, construction of Mobile Launcher 2 and modifications to the VAB’s Hibays 3 and 4 for the larger SLS Block 1B configuration will be accelerated. Teams will also upgrade the spaceport’s Converter Compressor Facility (CCF) to meet the helium needs of its commercial launch partners and the Artemis mission, improving the efficiency, reliability and speed of pumping helium into rockets. There will be an increase. Upgrades to CCF’s interior infrastructure are also part of Kennedy’s plan to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, joining nine other Kennedy facilities in achieving this designation.
“Kennedy’s spaceport will continue to see its launch cadence increase, and we must meet the needs of our program and commercial partners in the most efficient way possible,” said Sasha Sims, deputy director of Kennedy’s Spaceport Integration and Services Directorate. ” “Process improvements and a coordinated approach should improve the pace of government and commercial construction while also improving Kennedy’s infrastructure so that it is strong, sustainable, and able to support America’s future in space.”
Reducing procurement costs, increasing competition, and using modern contracting methods for construction are just some of the steps to maximize efficiency and reliability in 2025. The Center’s “critical day” policy prohibits certain types of operations during launches that require full flight range support but no longer applies to commercial launches that require minimal flight range support. is, training events, static fires, exercises, tests, rehearsals, or other activities leading up to or in support of launches. The policy change is expected to provide more than 150 days of flexibility annually for construction, maintenance and other necessary operations to keep the spaceport running smoothly.
Finally, Kennedy would continue to carry on Apollo’s legacy through Artemis. Seeds traveling on the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis I mission will be planted at the spaceport, honoring the legacy of the original moon trees that grew from seeds flown on Apollo 14. Florida’s space base will become one of a select few locations across the country where the “next generation” of Trees of the Moon will take root and provide living testimony to the agency’s ongoing legacy of lunar exploration.
“With so many missions and initiatives on the horizon, I look forward to another banner year at Kennedy Space Center,” Petro said. “We are truly ushering in the future of humanity.”