Seabees Help NASA Prepare for Lift Off

Seabees, attached to Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1, finished helping NASA with moving and dissembling the Orion Boilerplate Test Article (BTA) for scheduled maintenance on Naval Base San Diego, April 16.

NASA is currently preparing for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first manned space flight to Mars slated for 2018.

The BTA is a life-size test version of the Orion space capsule designed for testing watertight integrity and recovery operations.

Chief Equipment Operator Jered Robbins, assistant ACB 1 operations chief, said:

ACB 1 is supporting NASA, as well as other NASA contractors, by helping with the preventative maintenance on the training gear that they use.

ACB 1 sent their crane crew to help move and disassemble the Orion BTA for maintenance, testing and evaluation of future modifications.

The BTA is shaped exactly like the capsule that was sent into space in December 2014 that ACB 1 helped lift and move from the USS Anchorage (LPD 23) and has a similar weight and balance.

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Image: US Navy