Photo credit: NASA
Technicians manufacture at the same time NASASpace Launch System (SLS) Core phases for the Artemis II and Artemis III lunar missions at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage for the space rocket consists of two huge fuel tanks, four RS-25 engines and kilometers of cables for the avionics systems and flight computers. All the main structures of the core stage for Artemis II, the first mission with astronauts, have been built and will be equipped with electronics, feed lines, propulsion systems and other components. The technicians are currently wiring and conducting functional tests for the avionics in both the front and the front area. The motor section – the most complicated part of the stage – is in series assembly.
Photo credit: NASA
Engineers weld the core structures for the Artemis III mission, which sees the first woman and next man land on the moon’s surface, using a process known as friction stir welding. Each of the structures for the core stage has rings that join the parts together to create a stage during final assembly. The rings are shortened to 1/1000th from a customs in the ring machining center, then sent to another part of the facility for the next stage of manufacture. The assembly of the 5.5 million pound SLS rocket for the Artemis missions requires specialized tools and is a collaboration between NASA and Boeing, the prime contractor for the core phase.
We need the largest rocket stage ever built for the courageous missions in space that NASA’s Space Launch System will enable us. This infographic summarizes everything you need to know about the SLS core stage, the 212-foot-high stage that serves as the backbone of the world’s most powerful missile. The core stage includes the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks, which contain 733,000 gallons of propellant to power the stage’s four RS-25 engines, which are needed for the take-off and voyage to Mars. Photo credit: NASA / MSFC
The manufacturing advance for Artemis II and III is the first core stage for the SLS rocket, which will be Green Run tested at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA is working to have the first woman and next man land on the moon by 2024. NASA’s SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for space exploration. The Artemis program is the next step in the exploration of human space. It’s part of America’s wider moon Mars Exploration approach, in which astronauts explore the moon. The experience gained there will enable the next giant round of humanity: sending people to Mars. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the moon in a single mission.
