A Boeing weld technician inspects a recent weld on the Gore Weld Tool at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The Gore Weld Tool is used to perform vertical conventional friction-stir welds in the production of gore assemblies for NASA’s Space Launch System core stage hydrogen fuel tank — currently under construction at Michoud. All of the hardware necessary for building the tank that will be used on the first flight of SLS has been delivered to the facility and is awaiting assembly. SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet, will store cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines. Boeing is the prime contractor for the SLS core stage, including avionics.
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Image Credit: Boeing