Sets Lunar-Orbit Habitat for Space Center Houston

An early, full-scale mock-up of the astronaut accommodations developed for a small space station orbiting the moon has arrived at Space Center Houston to go on public display.

MEI Rigging & Crating, a premier national provider of rigging, machinery moving, millwrighting, mechanical installation, industrial storage, crating, and export packaging services, was contacted to be a part of this incredible project.

Northrop Grumman donated the “ground prototype” of the cislunar habitat that it built in 2019. The 5,000 lb., 14.5-foot-wide by 21-foot-long module was used by NASA to evaluate its configuration as compared to other companies’ concepts under the second Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP-2, solicitation. The mock-up led, in part, to NASA selecting Northrop Grumman to provide the HALO, or Habitation and Logistics Outpost, for the Artemis Gateway, a human-tended lunar-orbit platform. NASA astronauts and their international counterparts may someday use the Gateway to conduct research during weeks-long stays in orbit around the moon or as a way station when transferring between Earth and the lunar surface.

Due to the large size of the module, Space Center Houston had trimmed back tree limbs and tore out a window-lined wall to create a path for the move-in. The MEI rigging services crew strategically lifted the two-piece module off a flatbed truck with a 25/35 Versa-Lift where it was then set on trolleys. MEI had prepared for the move by setting Masonite floor protection to protect carpet and other flooring. While entering the building on skates, the module only had mere inches of clearance, as the building opening was only 14.8 ft. wide. Once inside the building the MEI rigging services crew skated the module into place and set per requirements.

The 7,500-pound NextSTEP-2 mock-up was originally installed in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility (Building 9) at Johnson Space Center, alongside other training versions of ISS modules, Orion capsules and commercial crew and cargo vehicles. Previously, the general public could only see the prototype from a glassed-in, overhead walkway overlooking the training floor.

Now, visitors to Space Center Houston will not only be able to walk around the exterior of the habitat module but go inside. Guests will be able to experience “a day in the life” aboard the habitat, providing a glimpse of what orbiting around the moon could potentially entail.