RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — The launch window for NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled for next month, and when the spacecraft begins its journey to the moon, more than 1100 employees at Constellium’s Ravenswood plant will watch their work soar into outer space.
Artemis II will send four astronauts deeper into space than any human in history, housed inside a craft made from aluminum produced at the Ravenswood plant.
“We produced aluminum plates that are used, basically, tip to tail on this Artemis II rocket. We’ve got applications in the Orion space capsule that will actually carry the astronauts all the way down to the bottom of the vehicle at the heat shield,” Constellium Vice President Brian McCallie said last week on MetroNews Midday.
The astronauts onboard Artemis II will witness a side of the moon never seen by humans as part of the mission. McCallie said Constellium has been part of exciting projects before, but Artemis II takes things to a new height.
“The aluminum that we make here in Ravenswood, WV, does some amazing things, but nothing quite like this, and to know that the plates that we make here are going to carry astronauts into deep space is just phenomenal and gives us a real sense of pride in what we do every day,” he said.
As the launch date for Artemis II approaches, Constellium continues to be an important stakeholder in the mission. The aluminum producer got into the project during the early stages, and McCallie looks forward to seeing it through.
“It’s bringing Constellium’s unique solutions, like aluminum-lithium alloy plates, to the table and working with the engineers at NASA and various other parties to say, ‘Here’s a material that we have that can do some unique things and is extremely lightweight and is also very strong,’ and I think it’s just a matter of collaborating with them on solutions,” he said.
Constellium’s involvement with the Artemis program does not end when the launch occurs. Artemis III is slated to put humans on the surface of the moon for the first time since 1972, and McCallie wants Ravenswood-produced aluminum to be part of that mission and beyond.
“The intention is to not only get to the moon, but the next step in that evolution would be to get to Mars and to know that the state of West Virginia, and absolutely here in Ravenswood, WV as well, really a sense of pride overcomes you,” he said.
The Artemis II launch window was delayed to March following a “wet dress rehearsal” for the mission last week.