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Behind the Scenes: Assembling the DART Spacecraft

(feat. Mechanical Systems Engineer Betsy Congdon)

Building a spacecraft requires the coordinated efforts of various teams and individuals who all play an important role in getting a mission off the ground. As NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) undergoes integration and testing at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, hear from various team members with diverse roles on the first ever planetary defense test mission.

Meet Betsy Congdon, DART's mechanical systems engineer at APL. Betsy's job on the mission requires delivering the mechanical hardware for the DART spacecraft on time and on budget. Betsy's day-to-day work involves leading a team to do a combination of designing, testing and assembling flight hardware. Watch as she and the DART team inspect and carefully assemble DART spacecraft hardware in this video.