WASHINGTON, July 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA rolled out the SLS
(Space Launch System) rocket's core stage for the Artemis
II test flight from its manufacturing facility in New Orleans on Tuesday for shipment to the
agency's spaceport in Florida. The
rollout is key progress on the path to NASA's first crewed mission
to the Moon under the Artemis campaign.
Using highly specialized transporters, engineers maneuvered the
giant core stage from inside NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility
in New Orleans to the agency's
Pegasus barge. The barge will ferry the stage more than 900 miles
to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, where engineers will
prepare it in the Vehicle Assembly Building for attachment to other
rocket and Orion spacecraft elements.
"With Artemis, we've set our sights on doing something big and
incredibly complex that will inspire a new generation, advance our
scientific endeavors, and move U.S. competitiveness forward," said
Catherine Koerner, associate
administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The SLS rocket is a key component
of our efforts to develop a long-term presence at the Moon."
Technicians moved the SLS rocket stage from inside NASA Michoud
on the 55th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. The move of the rocket stage for
Artemis marks the first time since the Apollo Program that a fully
assembled Moon rocket stage for a crewed mission rolled out from
NASA Michoud.
The SLS rocket's core stage is the largest NASA has ever
produced. At 212 feet tall, it consists of five major elements,
including two huge propellant tanks that collectively hold more
than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled liquid propellant to feed
four RS-25 engines. During launch and
flight, the stage will operate for just over eight minutes,
producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to propel four
astronauts inside NASA's Orion spacecraft toward the Moon.
"The delivery of the SLS core stage for Artemis II to
Kennedy Space Center signals a
shift from manufacturing to launch readiness as teams continue to
make progress on hardware for all major elements for future SLS
rockets," said John Honeycutt, SLS
program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Alabama. "We are
motivated by the success of Artemis I and focused on working toward
the first crewed flight under Artemis."
After arrival at NASA Kennedy, the stage will undergo additional
outfitting inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Engineers then
will join it with the segments that form the rocket's twin solid
rocket boosters. Adapters for the Moon rocket that connect it to
the Orion spacecraft will be shipped to NASA Kennedy this fall,
while the interim cryogenic propulsion stage is already in
Florida. Engineers continue to
prepare Orion, already at Kennedy,
and exploration ground systems for launch and flight.
All major structures for every SLS core stage are fully
manufactured at NASA Michoud. Inside the factory, core stages and
future exploration upper stages for the next evolution of SLS,
called the Block 1B configuration,
currently are in various phases of production for Artemis III, IV,
and V. Beginning with Artemis III, to better optimize space at
Michoud, Boeing, the SLS core stage prime contractor, will use
space at NASA Kennedy for final assembly and outfitting
activities.
Building, assembling, and transporting the SLS core stage is a
collaborative effort for NASA, Boeing, and lead RS-25 engines
contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company.
All 10 NASA centers contribute to its development with more than
1,100 companies across the United
States contributing to its production.
NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color,
and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under
Artemis. SLS is part of NASA's backbone for deep space exploration,
along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems,
advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the
Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket
that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a
single launch.
For more on NASA's Artemis campaign, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/artemis
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SOURCE NASA