[NASA] Artemis II Core Stage Goes Vertical

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Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program lift the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) core stage for the Artemis II mission from horizonal to vertical inside the transfer aisle at the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. The one-of-a kind lifting beam is designed to move the core stage from the transfer aisle to High Bay 2 where it will remain while teams stack the two solid rocket boosters for the SLS core stage.

NASA/Adeline Morgan

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket core stage is vertical in High Bay 2 on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The core stage arrived on July 23 to NASA Kennedy, where it remained horizontal inside the facility’s transfer aisle. With the move to High Bay 2, technicians with NASA and Boeing now have 360-degree access to the core stage both internally and externally. The move also frees up more space in the transfer aisle to allow technicians to continue transporting and integrating two solid rocket boosters onto mobile launcher 1 in High Bay 3 for the

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mission. Boeing and their sub-contractor Futuramic refurbished High Bay 2 to increase efficiencies while processing core stages for Artemis II and beyond.

During Apollo, technicians stacked the Saturn V rocket in High Bay 2. During the Space Shuttle Program, the high bay was used for external tank checkout and storage and as a contingency storage area for the shuttle. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (********* Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.

Image credit: NASA/Adeline Morgan

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