To create the liquid hydrogen tank structural test article, engineers built a tank identical to the Space Launch System tank that will be flown on Exploration Mission-1, the first flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft.
To create the liquid hydrogen tank structural test article, engineers built a tank identical to the Space Launch System tank that will be flown on Exploration Mission-1, the first flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft. Then, as shown in this photo, they attached pieces that simulate the two parts of the core stage that attach to the hydrogen tank: the engine section and the intertank. The149-foot test article built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans by Boeing, the prime contractor for the SLS core stage, will travel on the barge Pegasus to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama where it will be placed in the largest SLS structural test stand.
Credit: NASA/ Jude Guidry