Loading for the Moon

Time-lapse of a long night of loading operations for the delivery of second European Service Module (ESM-2) from Europe to USA. The Antonov 124 plane sent the module across the Atlantic in a custom-built container from Bremen, Germany, on 13 October to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It was the last stopover on Earth before this made-in-Europe powerhouse takes the first astronauts around the Moon on the Artemis II mission.

Upon arrival at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the second European Service Module (ESM-2) will be connected to the crew module. Together they form NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

The service module is a critical element for Orion – it provides propulsion, power and thermal control and will supply astronauts with water and oxygen. Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

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