A very special marriage took place at the Airbus cleanroom in Bremen.

 

A proven engine of the US Space Shuttle Orbital Manoeuvre System (OMS-E) was married with ESA’s European Service Module that is currently being assembled in Bremen. This engine will provide the main thrust during Orion’s journey to the moon. It is one of 33 engines that have been installed already. Besides the OMS-E there are 8 auxiliary thrusters and 24 attitude control thrusters. The engine did already fly on 19 US Space Shuttle missions and is now prepared for its last mission.

 

With this assembly all engines are now integrated into the Orion-ESM. The photos show the combined AIT team of Airbus, ArianeGroup and NASA during the integration of the engine.

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