RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. — As the world watched the moon mission of Artemis 2 in recent days, few watched with more pride than workers and management at Ravenswood’s Constellium plant. Throughout the spacecraft materials fabricated in the company’s West Virginia plant were riding along and returning man to the moon’s orbit.
“The whole space program is really on the move and we’re really happy to be key players in that market segment,” said Brian McCallie, President of Constellium West Virginia. “This one was a little different. Four human beings you put them in that rocket and launch it , the stakes are a bit higher and that makes the reward that much sweeter. We couldn’t be more proud of the mission and our role in supporting it.”
NASA selected Constellium to make the sheeting plates which formed a number of surfaces on the exterior of the spacecraft. Relationships which led to the job started many years ago. McCallie said it was also tied to the work they’ve done through the years with companies like Northrup-Grumman and other contractors for NASA and the military. Constellium products were all over the ship. It started with heat shields on the base of the core stage to protect it from the engine heat all the way up to the Orion crew module.
“Obviously the most visible was that capsule when it splashed down in the Pacific. It looked like it had taken a bit of a beating, but understanding the rigors it went through on its way back to this planet is pretty amazing stuff actually,” he added.
Much like NASA used the Artemis 2 mission for research and development, so did Constellium. Engineers from the company will have a debriefing soon with NASA to determine what they learned from the products and how to make them better the next time or what modifications need to be made to construct Artemis 3 and beyond.
“We’ve got plans to continue with Artemis. There’s discussions about Artemis 5, 6, 7, and I’ve even heard mention about Artemis 8 and as you know the Artemis mission goes well beyond the moon. The objective is Moon to Mars,” he said.
Constellium plans to be riding on all of those missions and work to develop products for those future missions is underway. It’s no easy task.
“The rigor associated with getting qualified, the testing of all the materials that go onto the rocket probably more than most people can even fathom to insure that everything is fly-ready,” said McCallie.