The liquid oxygen tank structural test article, shown here, for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage was the last test article loaded into the test stand July 10, 2019. The liquid oxygen tank is one of two propellant tanks in the rocket’s massive core stage that will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis I, the first flight of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon. Now, the tank will undergo the final test completing a three-year structural test campaign at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Tests conducted during this campaign put the rocket’s structures from the top of the upper stage to the bottom of the core stage through strenuous tests simulating the forces that the rocket will experience during launch and flight. All four of the core stage structural test articles were manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and delivered by NASA’s barge Pegasus to Marshall.
Image Credit: NASA/Tyler Martin