[NASA] Artemis II Stacking Operations Update

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Engineers and technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program integrate the right forward center segment onto mobile launcher 1 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. The boosters will help support the remaining rocket components and the Orion spacecraft during final assembly of the Artemis II Moon rocket and provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS (Space Launch System) thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B

NASA/Kim Shiflett

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program continue stacking the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s twin solid rocket booster motor segments for the agency’s

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, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Currently, six of the 10 segments are secured atop mobile launcher 1 with the

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as the latest addition. Teams will continue integrating the booster stack – the left center center segment adorned with the NASA “worm” insignia is the next segment to be integrated.

The right and left forward assemblies were brought to the VAB from the spaceport’s Booster Fabrication Facility on Jan. 14. The forward assemblies are comprised of three parts: the nose cone which serves as the aerodynamic fairing; a forward skirt, which house avionics; and the frustum which houses motors that separates the boosters from the SLS core stage during flight. The remaining booster segments will be transported from the Rotation, Processing, and Surge Facility to the VAB when engineers are ready to integrate them. The forward assemblies will be the last segments integrated to complete the booster configuration, ahead of integration with the core stage.

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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