KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. –
Editor’s note: NASA tentatively moved the Artemis II's launch window to March 6-11 after prelaunch tests identified several discrepancies.
Two Defense Contract Management Agency personnel, currently supporting NASA’s Artemis Program, witnessed the historic roll out of Artemis II at Kennedy Space Center, Jan. 17.
The stacked Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft making up Artemis II sat atop its mobile launch platform as the crawler started its four-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B, arriving in just under 12 hours. The Artemis II mission will send four astronauts around the moon, harkening back to the trailblazing Apollo 8 mission.
Charles Nelson, a level-three non-destructive testing examiner with DCMA NASA Product Operations, and Scott Foreman, a program integrator for the booster element, with DCMA NPO’s Northrup Grumman Utah, reflected on the significance of the scene at KSC.
“I was born just two days before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, fueling my dreams of becoming an astronaut,” said Foreman, who has worked as a program integrator with his contracting office for more than 12 years. “Along with other children all over the world, I would watch the TV in awe as we sent men to the moon.”
Foreman said seeing the Artemis II rocket roll out on the same crawler transporter from the same Vehicle Assembly Building used by the Apollo missions over 50 years ago, brought back the excitement he experienced as a child.
“It's thrilling to be here now. When I first came on board with DCMA we were just beginning to work on the early qualification for the solid rocket motors. Working on this rocket and contributing to the mission of sending astronauts back to the moon brings to mind the joy and the pride of all the hard work of the DCMA employees I’ve worked with,” he said.
Artemis II is the first time since Apollo 17 launched on Dec. 7, 1972, that humans have left earth orbit for deep space. According to NASA, it will be the furthest from Earth humans have ever flown in space and the journey will test all life support systems of the Orion Capsule.
For Nelson, who joined DCMA just over two years ago, examiners like him and the non-destructive testing auditors he trains, play a major role in the overall program’s success. In his 22 years of non-destructive testing experience, the event represented a high-water mark for his career. It was the first time he had worked on a rocket.
“I worked on the SLS when it was still in segments on the factory floor at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. To see it here today, fills me with pride and makes me think about my family and colleagues past and present,” he said.
Nelson said the event also highlighted the bold collaboration of organizations – including NASA, DCMA and industry partners. His remarks alluded to just one of the ways that DCMA and NASA demonstrated the strengthening of their relationship and collaboration.
Just a few days before the scheduled rollout, on Jan. 14 and 15, members of the NASA resident management offices, industry partners and leaders from various DCMA NPO contracting offices met at KSC. When these groups gather together to discuss major program goals and future operations they form the Resident Management Office council.
NASA RMOs consist of personnel that support NASA operations at contractor facilities nationwide. These offices are positioned similarly to how DCMA maintains a physical presence at defense contractor facilities or maintains stand-alone contracting offices.
During their RMO council meeting, the group reviewed the current state of SLS production at each of the Marshall Space Flight Center production locations that support the Artemis program and discussed how to meet NASA Director Jared Isaacman’s challenge to accelerate the process to deliver the SLS.
“DCMA is well prepared to answer the NASA administrator’s challenge,” said Brian McGinnis, director of DCMA’s NASA NPO. “Our current focus on detection to prevention and the utilization of process reviews, instead of product examinations creates the conditions to empower NASA’s acceleration of delivering SLS and Orion.”
Even with the weight of the challenge that lays ahead, the council made time to recognize top performing DCMA NPO employees who support the Artemis program. The council recognized DCMA’s Dawit Ghile, a quality engineer, for his support on the booster element; E.J. Bice, a program integrator, for his work on the core stage; and Mark Price, a quality engineer, for his work on the liquid engine element.
“It is very important to DCMA’s partnership with MSFC that the RMO council recognizes the value that each of these professionals bring to not only the Space Launch System but to the overall NASA human spaceflight program,” said McGinnis.
McGinnis said recognition and ongoing collaboration meetings affirm the partnership between NASA and the Department of War, which goes back to their first agreement for contract administration and audit services, signed in 1969. Today, a modernized memorandum of understanding between DCMA and NASA, signed in 2024, is a continuation of that original agreement with DCMA being the critical touchpoint between NASA and the DOW.