NASA's Ready to Build New Rocket

Article: NASA Unveils World's Largest Spacecraft Welding Tool for Space Launch System - NASA


Today, at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the largest spacecraft welding tool in the world opened. The Vertical Assembly Center, a 170-foot-tall, 78-foot-wide assembly, completes a welding apparatus that will be used to build the core stage of America's next rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).

SLS will have the capability for deep space missions, including going to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The core stage will be more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet. It will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the rocket's four RS-25 engines.

"This rocket is a game changer in terms of deep space exploration and will launch NASA astronauts to investigate asteroids and explore the surface of Mars while opening new possibilities for science missions, as well,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Michoud Friday.

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NASA Building Heavy-Lift Rocket

Article: NASA Space Launch System - NASA


NASA is gearing up for its return to human space travel. The Orion space capsule program has been well underway for a while. It's basically an Apollo pace capsule on steroids! Much more room to get more crew to space.

And, getting that capsule into space means developing new rockets. The Space Launch System (SLS) will make that happen. There will be different configurations, from more basic (carrying smaller loads) to more complex (for heavier loads). This will allow NASA to get humans and cargo to anywhere from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to an eventual Mars mission.

The benefits are a customizable launch system that can be adapted to many different configurations for many different objectives!

The infrastructure to make this all happen has a number of components. A ribbon cutting just took place this week at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. It is a new "green" building to house the engineers working on SLS. SLS and Orion capsule assembly will be conducted at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. This is the historic location where the Saturn rockets came together! Rocket testing will be conducted at Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

It's an exciting time for those involved in the space program, as well as for those advocates and fans! I will follow the action and post updates as they come in!

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