Artemis 2 Core Stage Structures Assembly Completed by NASA

NEW ORLEANS – NASA has completed assembling the main structure of the Core Stage Artemis 2 NASA at the New Orleans Michoud Assembly Facility. With that assembly complete, the technicians were able to begin attaching the four RS-25 engines to the underside of the rocket.

Quoted from the spaceexplored page, Monday (27/3/2023), NASA’s Space Launch System rocket consists of four main parts. First stage, Core Stage, Solid Rocket Boosters, Cryogenic Interim Upper Stage (second stage), and the Orion spacecraft.

Each section takes time to build and the largest of the four is the Core Stage. Consisting of five main structures, the engine section, liquid hydrogen tanks, intertanks, liquid oxygen tanks, and the forward rim, the Core Stage does most of the lifting between launch and orbit insertion.

This section is also the largest and about 212 feet or 64.6 meters high, so the Core Stage is almost 2/3 the height of the entire SLS rocket. The last segment of the Core Stage, the engine segment, was docked to the rest on March 17 and announced by NASA earlier this week.

With this structure complete, technicians can begin attaching the four RS-25 engines to the underside of the rocket. Two of the four engines flew on previous shuttle flights, and the third and fourth contained the flyable hardware.

One final piece of the Core Stage needs to be installed, the launch vehicle stage adapter. This section wraps the second stage and connects the Core Stage to the Orion stage adapter. However, these were built and delivered to the Kennedy Space Center separately. So NASA doesn’t include it in the Core Stage.

“Over the next year, we will see the required parts of the Artemis II rocket shipped from across the country and arrive at the Kennedy Space Center for assembly. NASA also announced four crew members who will depart for the Moon on April 3, three NASA astronauts and one from the Canadian Space Agency.

(wib)