Rocket Upper Stage Integrated as Preparations for Artemis II Continue

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida successfully integrated the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s upper stage May 1, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, marking another key step toward preparing to launch the agency’s Artemis II crewed test flight around the Moon.   

Technicians with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program stacked the upper stage, known as the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, atop the SLS’s launch vehicle stage adapter. The four-story propulsion system, built by Boeing and ULA (United Launch Alliance), is powered by an RL10 engine that will enable Orion to orbit the planet twice, once in high-Earth orbit, and build up enough speed for the push toward the Moon. The crew also will use the detached stage as a target during a manual piloting demonstration several hours after launch.

The SLS upper stage arrived in March to Kennedy’s Multi Payload Process Facility from ULA’s Delta Operations Center at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. At the MPPF, engineers loaded the stage with hydrazine to fuel its reaction control system.

The rocket, now with its upper stage integrated, sits atop mobile launcher 1 where its solid rocket boosters, core stage, launch vehicle stage adapter already are assembled together. The rocket elements will undergo integrated testing to ensure all of its components are communicating properly with each other, ground system equipment, and the Launch Control Center before the Orion stage adapter and spacecraft are stacked on top. 

Artemis II will be the first test flight of the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground system with crew aboard. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will venture around the Moon and back. The mission is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future astronaut missions to Mars.