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Before a big rocket booster boarded a bigger boat at Decatur on Thursday, American pride – especially the pride of American spaceflight – shone as if the Stars and Stripes were at Independence Day. .
In fact, United Launch Alliance celebrated the imminent dispatch of its Atlas V recall in Cape Canaveral, Florida. What that really meant was more than that.
"The first leg of the Atlas V will launch our first NASA and Boeing astronauts to the International Space Station from US soil and we could no longer be honored to support this historic mission," said Gary Wentz. , Vice President of Government and Commercial Programs of the ULA. at the beginning of his remarks at the ceremony inside the Giant ULA factory.
"It is extremely important for our country to restore American soil and to be able to send our crews to the International Space Station."
Indeed, the sleepy American space program wakes up with the strength of its own rockets launched from its own ground and will no longer buy seats on Russian rockets and the only way to space in the United States.
Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, US-American spaceflight flights are dormant.
"It's hard to exaggerate the importance of the hardware behind me," said Rick Navarro, Director of Launch Operations and Mission Space Boeing and Launch Engineering, while he was speaking from the podium next to the reminder Atlas V. "This will be the return of American astronauts launched from American soil – something we have not done since 2011.
"We take this very seriously – it's a sacred mission."
The Atlas V will transport the Boeing Starliner crew capsule to the International Space Station at the end of the year as part of an inaugural flight and a precursor for US astronauts catching vehicles US.
Upon completion of the ceremony, the Atlas was driven to Red Hat Road in Decatur, ULA Wharf on the Tennessee River, and loaded onto the ULA launcher transport vehicle, Mariner, for a 2,000 km trip. to Cape Canaveral on the east coast of Florida.
ULA employees have come out of the factory to watch her follow invitations from leading figures in northern Alabama.
"Today, we are talking solely about the commercial crew and we are excited to see the first crewed flight test assistant leave Mariner's Decatur factory and travel to Cape Canaveral to support this flight." history, "said Wentz.
In his address, Mr. Navarro said, "This ceremony and this occasion are particularly important to me as they mark a turning point in the next phase of our preparation for launch."
The ULA Centa first-floor booster was loaded next to the first-tier Atlas V booster. The boosters will be docked at Starliner at the Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida, said Wentz.
"The Atlas has made 79 successful launches to date and it is considered a trusted and proven launcher in the aerospace industry," Wentz said. "At ULA, we are focused on building and launching safe, reliable vehicles that deliver these critical missions exactly as planned with 100% success."
Navarro said Starliner was designed to land not only in the water, but also on land. It could be refurbished and returned to spaceflight up to 10 times.
And once the tests are complete, Starliner will carry American astronauts in space.
Apart from the ULA factor in the visitors' car park, Navarro did not lose the reserved spaces with signs indicating "Astronaut parking".
"It's a good indicator, Navarro explains, of the evolution of the situation over the years."
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