Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
We have lift off!
NASA launched the Artemis-I, and it was powered by Missouri-made batteries. This is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars.
Eight different types of batteries from EaglePicher, an energy manufacturing company based in Joplin, Missouri, are on board the spacecraft, providing power at crucial times during the mission.
EaglePicher batteries are on almost every component of the Artemis-I, including the solid rocket boosters, the rocket itself, and the vehicle that will fly around the moon and return to earth.
“Two are actually on the booster and two are actually on the rocket and they’re flight termination system batteries and then we also have the four main batteries on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle,” said Jackie Kennedy, Senior Program Director at EaglePicher.
Missouri has a long history of powering NASA’s space program including the InSight Lander and Perseverance rover, which are currently on the surface of Mars, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft and the International Space Station. And Missouri has been a key part of the U.S. space program since the 1950s driving the development of the Mercury and Gemini space programs and the CST-100 Starliner.
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