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NASA joins final core section of its first Space Launch System rocket
Posted Sep 23, 2019

NASA has joined the final section to its first Space Launch System rocket marking a milestone in the big new rocket’s construction. Next comes adding the engines and a final series of tests.
By Lee Roop | lroop






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NASA has connected the last of the five sections of the core the Space Launch System marking a major step in the big rocket’s completion.

“Now, to complete the stage, NASA will add the four RS-25 engines and complete the final integrated avionics and propulsion functional tests,” SLS stages manager Julie Bassler said. “This is an exciting time as we finish the first-time production of the complex core stage that will provide the power to send the Artemis I mission to the Moon.”


The last piece added was the engine section located at the bottom of the 212-foot-tall core stage. NASA said it is one of the most complicated pats of the rocket including systems for mounting, controlling and delivering fuel from the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks.

“Boeing expects to complete final assembly of the Artemis I core stage in December,” said Jennifer Boland-Masterson, Boeing operations director at MAF. “After we deliver the stage, NASA will transport it on the agency’s Pegasus barge from Michoud to NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for Green Run testing.

During Green Run testing, engineers will install the core stage into a vertical test stand for a series of firing tests ending in a firing of all four engines. That will test the engines, fuel lines, valves, pressurization system and software needed for a successful launch.

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