24 | BOEING FRONTIERS family photos. He has contemplated a Space Launch System future that will involve him—and break aerospace barriers. “When this launches off the pad, I’ll know I’ll have done my job,” Oramous said. “This is going to be the largest vehicle leaving Earth.” • DANIEL.W.RALEY@BOEING.COM Photos and illustration: (Top left and bottom) In Florida, a NASA transporter will move the Space Launch System from an assembly building at Cape Canaveral to a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center; the Space Launch System will lift off from Complex 39, Pad B, which previously served as a starting point for Apollo and space shuttle missions. BOEING (Far right) An artist’s concept depicts the Space Launch System. NASA doing what people say can’t be done,” Burroughs said. Boeing technician Richard Oramous has worked at the Michoud facility for 40 years. He has seen the factory survive Hurricane Katrina and shift from space program to space program. He assembles Space Launch System domes that cap the fuel tanks at both ends. He operates a production tool and later checks the torque on hundreds of bolts. He could not be more proud of what he does now, so much that the space mechanic brought his six grandchildren to a Michoud open house and showed them. He took
Frontiers December 2016 Issue
To see the actual publication please follow the link above