‘Heroes of the day’: NASA hails ERC Red Crew team

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January 3, 2023

(L-R) ERC employees Billy Cairns, cryogenic engineering technician; Chad Garrett, safety engineer; NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Trent Annis, cryogenic engineering technician. (Photo: NASA/Sam Lott contributed)

HUNTSVILLE – Did you know the launch of Artemis I in November almost did not happen?

Three Red Crew team members from Huntsville-based ERC saved the day and have been hailed as “heroes of the day” by NASA for their bravery and hard work to make sure Artemis I took flight.

“I am so proud of the ERC team on the (Test and Operations Support contract),” said Jane Reutt, ERC president of NASA Division. “This launch took the entire team from the folks in the background to the folks in the firing room.

ERC’s Billy Cairns and Trenton Annis, cryogenic engineering technicians; and Chad Garrett, an ERC safety engineer, were involved in “tightening some bolts” and troubleshooting a valve used to replenish the core stage with liquid hydrogen, according to an ERC spokesperson.

Members of the “red crew” perform work at the mobile launcher during the launch countdown for Artemis I at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The team of technicians are part of the personnel specially trained to conduct operations at the launch pad during cryogenic loading operations. (NASA contributed)

The efforts were a last-minute effort to ensure the launch of the Space Launch Systems rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission.

“What an amazing night as we listened to the countdown and realized we were going to zero and launching,” Reutt said. “It’s been a long road for many of our employees, but the end result was breathtaking.”

ERC, a Huntsville-based subcontractor to Jacobs on the Artemis I Test and Operations Support contract, were intimately involved from the beginning phases to the Red Crew saving the day.

As NASA was preparing for the Nov. 16 launch, the sensors detected a leak during fueling, similar to what caused mission control to scrub the previous attempts.

Just after 10 p.m., Artemis mission managers sent in the “Red Crew”, a specialized team at the base of the fueled rocket, to try and stop the liquid hydrogen leak.

To do its job, the team drained off the liquid hydrogen from the leaking component, an extremely dangerous task due to the complexity and nature of the elements.

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