Boeing Delivers SLS Core Stage to KSC

April 29, 2021 – As part of NASA’s mission to return humans to the moon, the tallest flight component to ever launch from KSC has arrived in Florida.

Boeing Space has delivered the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket cryogenic core stage to NASA  in preparation for launch of the Artemis I mission, the first moon mission in nearly 50 years.  The SLS core stage, measuring 212 feet tall and 27.6 feet in diameter, is the tallest flight component ever built by NASA.  All components that make up the SLS are now in Florida.

The first core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket departs Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Image Credit: NASA

Special Delivery. The barge arrives at the Vehicle Assembly Building/KSC. Image credit: The Boeing Company

Teams from Kennedy’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and primary contractor, Jacobs, have offloaded the 212-foot piece of Artemis I flight hardware and it has been transported to the Vehicle Assembly Building. There, it will join the solid rocket boosters on the mobile launcher. Once stacked, additional flight components will be integrated with the core stage and boosters along with the Orion spacecraft.

The size of the core stage can be seen as it approaches the VAB. It is the largest rocket core stage ever built, weighing 188,000 lbs. Image Credit: The Boeing Company

Through the Artemis program, NASA will return humans to the Moon and prepare for eventual journeys to Mars.

“We thank NASA for their partnership as we deliver the first of the Artemis core stages that will launch a new era of human deep space exploration,” said John Shannon, SLS vice president and program manager for Boeing. “Boeing shares this achievement with the hundreds of companies and thousands of highly skilled workers who contribute to this program and form the backbone of this industry.”

This illustration shows NASA’s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), in its Block 1 crew vehicle configuration. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

SLS will launch NASA’s Artemis I mission that will send an uncrewed Orion crew vehicle around the moon and back. That test flight will be followed by Artemis II, the first crewed lunar fly-by for the Artemis program.

Source: Boeing
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