www.nasa.gov

FEBRUARY 2020

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

GETTING TO THE 

CORE OF FUTURE 

SLS FLIGHTS
TEAMS BUILD CORE STAGE 

HARDWARE FOR 2ND AND 

3RD SLS FLIGHTS

While the core stage that will power the Artemis I mission is undergoing a final series of tests at Stennis Space Center, hardware 

for the second and third SLS flights is well underway. 

NASA and Boeing teams at Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans have built the major components of the Artemis II core 

stage. The liquid hydrogen tank is welded together and undergoing nondestructive evaluation. The liquid oxygen tank is being 

primed for thermal protection application. The Intertank (shown on the cover) has completed thermal protection application and is 

in mechanical assembly, and the engine section is undergoing mechanical integration and orbital welding. 

The core stage for the third SLS flight is also in production. The liquid hydrogen tank was originally built for the first core stage, but 

was shelved because welds did not meet strength requirements. After studying repair techniques to strengthen the welds, the tank 

has re-entered production and will be proof tested for strength. 

This year will be a busy one for NASA as the agency builds momentum to land the first woman and next man on the Moon. Learn 

more about NASA’s plans for 2020 and beyond: youtu.be/3P0EUBrWh50

The liquid hydrogen tank for the third SLS core stage is in production at Michoud Assembly Facility.
As NASA lays the foundations for the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program, the Exploration Ground Systems team of launch 

controllers who will oversee the countdown and liftoff of the first flight of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are practicing – and 

perfecting – the procedures required for a successful launch. It’s a time-tested method NASA has used to hone launch teams’ skills 

during all the agency’s human spaceflight programs.

The Artemis I launch team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is simulating critical portions of the countdown to ensure everyone is 

ready to handle any situation launch day may throw their way. Under the leadership of Artemis I Launch Director Charlie BlackwellThompson, the team gathered at consoles inside the Launch Control Center’s Firing Room 1 on Feb. 3 for a run-through of the 

terminal count – the final stretch of the countdown that ends with solid rocket booster ignition. 

Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2vuOlTR

Artemis I Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, left, stands at a launch console inside the Launch Control Center’s Firing Room 1 at 

Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a countdown simulation with team members Jessica Parsons and Jeremy Graeber. 

SIMULATING SUCCESS FOR 

THE ARTEMIS I LAUNCH
SMALL BUSINESSES GATHER TO LEARN 

ABOUT ARTEMIS MISSION OPPORTUNITIES

As NASA prepares to send astronauts to 

explore the Moon and Mars, hundreds of 

small business leaders gathered at the U.S. 

Space & Rocket Center to learn how they 

can support Artemis missions under a new 

contracting model for managing mission 

support. Held Feb. 20, leadership from 

NASA Headquarters and NASA’s Marshall 

Space Flight Center presented the new 

model, which better aligns the people, 

processes, procurements and policies of 

mission support. 

Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/38k3pRp

Monica Manning, assistant administrator of NASA’s Office of Procurement, addresses 

a crowd of nearly 900 industry leaders from 33 states at the Marshall Small Business 

Alliance meeting Feb. 20 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 

SLS ON THE ROAD

Space Camp Crew Trainers at the U.S. 

Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) learned 

about SLS and NASA’s plan to return to 

the Moon as part of their intense training 

program before taking teams. The Feb. 14 

briefing wrapped up a two-week training 

program, with future counselors learning 

the history and future of space exploration, 

and training for simulated space missions 

and robotics labs before they take their 

first team of 16 Space Campers. The crew 

trainers are on the front line working with 

at least 16 space campers each week 

throughout the year in the USSRC’s worldrenowned informal education programs. 

Students from every state in the nation and 

more than 63 international countries will 

attend the programs this year.
WHAT’S NEW IN SLS SOCIAL MEDIA

The massive SLS core stage that will launch the Artemis I mission was loaded onto NASA’s Pegasus barge and shipped from 

Michoud Assembly Facility to Stennis Space Center in January in preparation for the Green Run test series. This time-lapse video 

shows the process from start to finish. Watch the video: youtu.be/t45mQX4fgBg

I AM BUILDING SLS: 

HANSEL GILL

Hansel Gill started his NASA career as a summer intern, 

just two weeks after he graduated from high school. By 

the end of that summer, he knew he wanted to spend his 

career at the agency. Today, he is the subsystem manager 

for manufacturing and production for the exploration 

upper stage of the SLS rocket. Working with teams at 

Marshall Space Flight Center and Michoud Assembly 

Facility, his job has him in the front row as blueprint 

designs transform into actual hardware for the rocket that 

will launch NASA’s first Artemis missions – and astronauts 

– to the Moon. 

Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/32G9Ywz
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 562

LOCATION: Spring Grove, Illinois

SPACEFLIGHT PARTNERS: Scot Forge Co.

WHAT THEY DO FOR SLS:

Starting as a small hammer shop in Chicago in 1893, Scot Forge is proud to be a 100 percent employee-owned American 

manufacturer. With five U.S. facilities and 500-plus employee-owners, Scot Forge offers the most modern open-die and rolledring forging, machining and downstream capabilities in North America. The company has a 127-year track record of success 

focused on solving customers’ greatest challenges. From the wheels of NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover, to mission critical 

components for nuclear submarines, to large hydraulic cylinders for the largest mining trucks on the planet, Scot Forge creates 

the precision forged metal parts used in demanding applications all over the world. In support of SLS, Scot Forge supplies 

forged metal components used across the launch vehicle, from the propulsion side of the rocket up to the payload. Recently the 

company was selected to produce the aft dome and nozzle hardware for the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) 

effort to develop next-generation boosters for SLS. 

Proud Scot Forge employee-owners 

(L-R), Kyle Rackers, Mark Dowell and 

Peter Soch.

FOLLOW THE PROGRESS 

OF NASA’S NEW LAUNCH 

VEHICLE FOR DEEP SPACE:

Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Twitter.com/NASA_SLS

Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . Facebook.com/NASASLS