{"id":769299,"date":"2023-10-13T16:48:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=769299"},"modified":"2023-10-13T16:48:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:48:57","slug":"nasa-prepares-artemis-ii-moon-rocket-core-stage-for-final-assembly-phase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=769299","title":{"rendered":"NASA Prepares Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage for Final Assembly Phase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All four RS-25 engines have been installed onto the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage for NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission. The installation of the engines signals the core stage is nearly finished with assembly and will soon be ready for shipment to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During launch, the rocket\u2019s engines provide more than two million pounds of combined thrust.<\/div>\n
Credits: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Megan Carter<\/em><\/p>\n

NASA and its partners have fully secured the four RS-25 engines<\/a> onto the core stage of the agency\u2019s SLS (Space Launch System<\/a>) rocket for the Artemis II flight test. The core stage, and its engines, is the backbone of the SLS mega rocket that will power the flight test, the first crewed mission to the Moon under Artemis.<\/p>\n

Engineers have begun final integration testing at NASA\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, in preparation for acceptance ahead of shipment of the stage to Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the coming months.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNASA integrated many lessons learned from the first-time build and assembly of the SLS core stage for Artemis I to increase efficiencies during manufacturing and cross-team collaboration with our partners for Artemis II. NASA teams in New Orleans remain focused on assembling and preparing the SLS rocket\u2019s liquid-fueled stage to support the flight.\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\"Julie<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Julie Bassler<\/p>\n

Manager of the Stages Office for the SLS Program<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cNASA integrated many lessons learned from the first-time build and assembly of the SLS core stage for Artemis I to increase efficiencies during manufacturing and cross-team collaboration with our partners for Artemis II,\u201d said Julie Bassler, manager of the Stages Office for the SLS Program at the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the program is managed. \u201cNASA teams in New Orleans remain focused on assembling and preparing the SLS rocket\u2019s liquid-fueled stage to support the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 212-foot-tall core stage includes two massive liquid propellant tanks and four RS-25 engines at its base. For Artemis II, the core stage and its engines act as the powerhouse of the rocket, providing more than two million pounds of thrust for the first eight minutes of flight to send the crew of four astronauts inside NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft<\/a> on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon.<\/p>\n

NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, secured the engines to the maze of propulsion and avionics systems within the core stage Oct. 6. In the coming weeks, engineers will perform testing on the entire stage and its avionics and electrical systems, which act as the \u201cbrains\u201d of the rocket to help control it during flight.<\/p>\n

Once testing of the stage is complete and the hardware passes its acceptance review, the core stage<\/a> will be readied for shipping to Kennedy via the agency\u2019s Pegasus barge, based at Michoud.<\/p>\n