Ash Point Welcomes NASA Astronauts Ahead of Pillars of Winter Mission

The crew of the USNS Apollo 14 are celebrating their arrival in Ashpoint as they continue on to the Robert Weber Space Center, America’s most remote frontier launch complex. It’s part of a planned NASA return to the “Pillars of Winter” outside the Orion Arm.

Among the thousands of personnel onboard are roughly 300 astronauts, roughly one-tenth of the total crew set to take part in the journey. Their mission includes the restoration and operation of an ultra-distant periodically-manned NASA research outpost.