NASA Astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore
Astronauts' journeys into space now will go deeper than ever before. In anticipation of their efforts to achieve this goal L3 Space & Sensors will host astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore and leadership from NASA and Orbital ATK, Wednesday, November 29, at its CE Space Avionics facility in Mason, Ohio.
The event will celebrate L3’s contributions to NASA’s and Orbital ATK’s efforts on the Space Launch System (SLS) that will send astronauts into deep space and eventually on to Mars. As a subcontractor to Orbital ATK, L3 provides the five key units that are the core of the SLS booster’s avionics and flight termination systems. These units are the brains of the rocket, controlling the boosters and communicating with the flight computer.
Mark Dapore, Vice President and General Manager of L3 CE Space Avionics said that participating in this pioneering endeavor into deep space is an honor, and we are excited to be part of the journey. He continued completion of this critical booster milestone is a big step toward preparing for the first flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft. They are pleased to be part of the team supporting NASA’s vision to take humans farther into space than ever before.
Engineers and technicians in Ohio and across the nation are hard at work building NASA’s powerful new SLS rocket, associated launch and ground operation systems, and NASA’s new Orion spacecraft. More than 84 small- to medium-sized companies located in Ohio, including L3 CE Space Avionics, are part of America’s future in deep space and are designing and manufacturing hardware that will fly on the inaugural flight of SLS and Orion, which is scheduled to launch in 2019.
