Space Launch System’s Second Rocket Stage Readies Artemis II for 2025 Moon Flyby Mission

NASA has shipped to the Kennedy Space Center the Space Launch System rocket’s second core stage that Boeing built at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans for the crewed Artemis II moon flyby mission scheduled for 2025. 

At the space center in Florida, the core stage will be assembled with other mission components, including the solid rocket boosters, upper stage and NASA’s Orion space capsule. The assembly is a crucial step for the mission that will again send astronauts to moon orbit after 50 years, Boeing said.

The rocket stage, which NASA rolled out on its Pegasus barge for the 900-mile trip to the space center on Tuesday, is the largest component of the mission.

According to Boeing, the delivery of the second core stage is a milestone in the development of the SLS, the only rocket that can launch a crew with a large cargo to orbit the moon. Four RS-25 engines with two booster rockets power the 212-foot tall core stage, providing 8.8 million pounds of thrust to propel space missions, the company added.

Dave Dutcher, Boeing’s vice president and SLS program manager, said the core stage delivery continues a legacy seen when Boeing products helped the 1969 lunar mission. With NASA and its industry partners, the company is building in the agency’s New Orleans factory “the world’s most capable rocket” for deep space exploration, he added. 

Boeing is the SLS core stage’s main contractor, securing the task valued at $2.8 billion in July 2014.