March 24 (OTR/PRESS) –
NASA has integrated the five main structures of the central stage of the SLS rocket for Artemis II, the program’s first manned mission, that will send four astronauts around the Moon.
Technicians at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans attached the motor section to the rest of the rocket stage on March 17. The teams will then integrate the four RS-25 engines into the engine section to complete the stage, the space agency reports. it’s a statement.
Located at the bottom of the 64-meter-tall core stage, the engine section is the most complex and intricate part of the rocket stage and helps power Artemis missions to the Moon. In addition to its miles of wiring and hundreds of sensors, the engine section is a crucial junction point for RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters that produce a combined 8.8 million pound thrust at liftoff. Houses the engines and includes vital systems for mounting, controlling, and delivering fuel from the propellant tanks to the engines.
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce on April 3 the four astronauts that will venture to the vicinity of the Moon on Artemis II, which is scheduled to launch in late 2024.
