Orion Backstage: Anthony Thrikettle

Even engineers like to shake things up now and then. Anthony Thirkettle is a principal mechanical engineer for ESA (European Space Agency) working on Orion’s European-built service module, which provides propulsion and power for the spacecraft. He explains structural testing that is now underway at NASA’s Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, where a structural representation of the service module is being put through a series of tests to evaluate how it will stand up to the harsh environment of liftoff and ascent to space. The service module element is being built by ESA and Airbus Defence & Space for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will launch atop the Space Launch System rocket on a three-week mission to the far side of the moon and back in 2018.