FEBRUARY 2021 – APRIL 2021

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

NEXT DESTINATION:

LUNAR ORBIT
BARGING IN: ARTEMIS I CORE 

STAGE ARRIVES AT KENNEDY 

FOR LAUNCH PREPARATION

Crews at Stennis Space Center worked to remove the core stage 

from the B-2 test stand April 19-20.

The core stage was loaded on to NASA’s Pegasus barge April 22 

and shipped to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be 

stacked with the solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher and 

prepared for the Artemis I launch.

The SLS Artemis I core stage completed a successful, fullduration hot fire at Stennis Space Center March 18.

The final piece of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send NASA’s Artemis I mission to the Moon has arrived at 

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SLS Program delivered the core stage rocket to the center’s Launch Complex 39 

turn basin wharf after completing a successful series of Green Run tests at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The 212-foot-tall 

core stage, which is the largest rocket stage NASA has ever built, completed its voyage aboard the agency’s Pegasus barge on 

April 27. After a 900-mile journey, teams aboard the barge, which was modified to support SLS’s weight and length, safely piloted 

the specialized self-sustaining vessel to the spaceport. 

Now that the core stage is at Kennedy, it will be stacked with the solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher in the Vehicle 

Assembly Building (VAB) in preparation for the Artemis I launch later this year. 

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3gNkz1I
STACKING COMPLETE FOR 

TWIN SLS ROCKET BOOSTERS

The SLS solid rocket boosters for the Artemis I mission are stacked on the mobile launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy 

Space Center. 

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems have completed stacking of the SLS solid rocket boosters at Kennedy Space 

Center in Florida. Stacking work was done using one of five massive cranes to place the aft assemblies, motor segments, and 

forward assemblies onto the mobile launcher in the VAB at Kennedy. The fully assembled, five-segment boosters are the largest, 

most powerful solid rocket boosters ever built for flight. Engineers placed the first segment on the mobile launcher Nov. 21, 2020, 

and continued the process segment by segment, finishing with the placement of the forward assemblies March 2. Prior to the 

arrival of the SLS core stage, the team finished installing electrical instrumentation and pyrotechnics, then tested the systems on 

the boosters. Technicians then transported the core stage to the VAB and will stack it on the mobile launcher between the two 

boosters.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3uf9fyS
WELD COMPLETE FOR 

ADAPTER ON FIRST ARTEMIS 

CREWED LAUNCH

Technicians at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, completed the weld to join the two major parts of 

the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) for NASA’s SLS rocket. The adapter, a cone-shaped piece of hardware that connects the 

rocket’s upper and lower stages, will fly on Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program. Using advanced robotic 

tooling and an innovative process called friction stir welding, technicians completed the weld that joins the upper and lower cones 

of the LVSA into one structure. The next step in the manufacturing process is the installation of the pneumatically actuated frangible 

joint, which sits atop the LVSA and helps separate the core stage and LVSA from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) 

during flight. In addition to connecting the 212-foot-tall core stage to the ICPS, the stage adapter protects avionics and electrical 

devices in the ICPS from extreme vibration and acoustic conditions during launch and ascent.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3sRMJuP

The SLS launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II undergoes welding assembly at Marshall Space Flight Center.
HARDWARE FOR 

FUTURE ARTEMIS FLIGHTS 

MAKE PROGRESS

Technicians and engineers continue to make progress manufacturing core stages that will help power NASA’s SLS rocket for 

its second and third flights. NASA and Boeing, the lead contractor for the core stage, are in the process of conducting one of 

the biggest Artemis II milestones: assembling the top half of the core stage. The 212-foot tall core stage for the SLS rocket is 

the largest rocket stage NASA has ever produced. The five individual elements that make up the core stage – the forward skirt, 

liquid oxygen tank, intertank, liquid hydrogen tank, and the engine section – are in various stages of manufacture and assembly 

at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Michoud’s 43-acre building provides more than enough space for crews to 

work in tandem to build the core stages for Artemis II and Artemis III, the second and third flights of the SLS rocket and the first 

crewed missions of NASA’s Artemis program.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3dXQTxf

The intertank for the Artemis II SLS core stage is moved inside Michoud Assembly Facility.
NEW RS-25 ENGINE TEST SERIES 

UNDERWAY

NASA conducted a long-duration RS-25 single-engine test April 28, continuing its seven-part test series to support development 

and production of engines for future missions of the agency’s SLS rocket. Operators fired the engine for almost 11 minutes (650 

seconds) on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, providing valuable data to Aerojet 

Rocketdyne, lead contractor for the SLS engines, as it begins production of new engines for use after the first four SLS flights. Four 

RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, will help power SLS at launch. Engines for the rocket’s first four Artemis 

program missions to the Moon already have been tested. Operators now are focused on collecting data to demonstrate and verify 

various engine capabilities, evaluate new engine components manufactured with cutting-edge and cost-saving technologies, 

eliminate operating risks, and enhance engine production.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/3xCa9bl

An RS-25 engine for the SLS Program is fired up as part of a new test series at Stennis Space Center.
WHAT’S NEW IN SLS SOCIAL MEDIA

SMOKE & FIRE! 

NASA TESTS 

THE WORLD’S 

MOST POWERFUL 

ROCKET

NASA’s SLS rocket’s core stage fired all four of 

its RS-25 engines on March 18 at Stennis 

Space Center. The hot fire test included loading 

733,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid 

hydrogen – mirroring the launch countdown 

procedure – and igniting the engines.

Watch the full video here:

go.nasa.gov/3xBQ3xN

WATCH TECHNICIANS WELD ROCKET STAGE 

ADAPTER FOR FIRST CREWED ARTEMIS FLIGHT

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, complete the welds to form the launch vehicle stage 

adapter (LVSA) for the SLS rocket. The LVSA in this video will fly on Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program. 

Upon stacking the upper and lower cones, technicians use advanced robotic tooling and an innovative process called friction stir 

welding to join the cones of the LVSA to form one structure. Watch the full video here: youtu.be/gL6vUL_95hU
SLS ON THE VIRTUAL ROAD

SLS’s Trey Cate visited virtually with the Tecnologico de Costa Rica on March 26. Cate gave a briefing on SLS and Artemis to the 

group. Watch here: go.nasa.gov/3gMkLOQ

Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer participated in a virtual webinar entitled The Path to Artemis III: Future of 

Human Deep Space Exploration on Feb. 17. Hosted by The U.S Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Huntsville/

Madison County Chamber of Commerce and the Space Channel, the event took a meticulous look at the role of Marshall 

Space Flight Center and greater Huntsville’s industrial capabilities in developing the necessary technology and hardware for 

sustained U.S. lunar operations. Watch here: go.nasa.gov/3332wfH
SPACEFLIGHT 

PARTNERS: 

Haigh-Farr

WHAT THEY DO FOR SLS:

Founded in 1969, Haigh-Farr is a small, 

woman-owned business that has become 

a world leader in the design, development, 

manufacture, and test of customizable 

antennas for simple to sophisticated 

applications in the space, defense, and 

commercial sectors. The company provides 

antenna systems for SLS, including for use 

on Block 1B’s advanced and more powerful 

upper stage, the Exploration Upper Stage 

(EUS).

LOCATION: Bedford, New Hampshire

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 75

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