The silver ring depicted in the Spaceflight illustration above is an ESPA ring developed by Moog under a U.S. Air Force contract. The black ring is called Hub and was manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. It is similar to the ESPA Grande payload adapter.

This article originally appeared in the Sept. 10, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...