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NASA
The massive central section of the SLS has a shuttle legacy
NASA has completed the assembly of the major structural components of its largest rocket since Saturn V, in the Apollo era.
Engineers at the Michoud Assembly Center in New Orleans connected the last of the five sections that make up the core of the Space Launch System (SLS).
The rocket will be used to send a unarmed Orion ship to the moon, in a flight that is expected to take off in 2021.
This will pave the way for crewed missions, with a landing in 2024.
The last part of the main SLS, 64 m (212 ft) long, was the complicated engine section. This will serve as a point of attachment for the four powerful RS-25 engines, capable of producing two million pounds of thrust (9 meganewtons).
The RS-25 engines, built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, based in Sacramento, California, are the same as those that propelled the now-abandoned space shuttle.
To the moon and beyond
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ESA
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Julie Bassler, head of SLS steps for NASA, said: "From now on, to complete the step, NASA will add the four RS-25 engines and complete the latest functional tests of avionics (electronics) and integrated propulsion systems.
"We are living an exciting time as we finish production for the first time in the complex scene that will provide the power to send the Artemis 1 mission to the moon."
This marks an important milestone for the SLS rocket, which has experienced delays and cost overruns since its announcement in 2010.
NASA wants to send the first woman and the next man to the South Lunar Pole by 2024. Artemis 1 will be followed by the first crewed mission, which is scheduled for launch in 2022, which will send the astronauts around in a loop. Moon without landing. The first lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972 will take place on Artemis 3.
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NASA
The first flight of the SLS will include an unprepared Orion capsule
During the fall, SLS engineers will work on attaching the four RS-25s and connecting them to the main propulsion systems inside the engine section.
The SLS includes a main stage on which the Orion spacecraft will rest, and two solid rocket boosters attached to each side of the nucleus. Orion is the next generation crewed American spacecraft, capable of making voyages to the Moon, asteroids and other targets in deep space. This could also be part of a transfer vehicle for human missions on Mars.
In the long term, NASA plans to build a space station in lunar orbit called Gateway. The complete station will not be ready by the time of the 8:24 pm landing, but the astronauts participating in this mission could stop with a "light" version of Gateway, consisting only of a power and propulsion module and a small habitat. They would then bring an undercarriage to the surface.
In June, John Shannon, head of the SLS program at Boeing, rocket master for NASA, said: "[The SLS is] built to carry the crew and he has the performance to take this crew where you want to take them.
"There are other rockets on the drawing board right now. But with regard to a vehicle designed to carry Orion and parts of the Gateway station or landing gear on the moon, SLS is really the only one.
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NASA
The powerful RS-25 engine quartet will propel the main stage
Jennifer Boland-Masterson is the MAF Operations Director for Boeing. She said: "Boeing is expected to complete the final assembly of the Artemis 1 core in December."
She added, "After the delivery of the scene, NASA will transport it from Michoud to the Michoud agency houseboat at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St Louis, Mississippi, for Green Run trials. "
The Green Run will include firing tests of the four RS-25 engines for eight minutes, the full duration of the first flight of the rocket into space. It will remain on the ground while the engines are launched on the test bench B-2 of NASA Stennis. The Green Run will provide the critical performance data needed to demonstrate that the main phase design is flight-ready and ready to launch.
The SLS central stage incorporates state-of-the-art avionics, miles of cables and two huge liquid propellant tanks that together contain 2.7 million liters of liquid oxygen and hydrogen hydrogen to power the four RS-25 engines.
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