EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH STATED SUPPLIER.
Casting and assembly of solid rocket booster, shown here, for the Artemis IV mission is underway at Northrop Grumman???s factory in Promontory, Utah. The booster motors for Artemis II and Artemis III have completed casting and are ready to go to NASA???s Kennedy Space Center where they will be assembled with other booster hardware being prepared for the missions. NASA teams continue to prepare their Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for its debut flight with the launch of Artemis I, NASA and its partners across the country have made great progress building the rocket for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission. The team is also manufacturing and testing major parts for Artemis missions III, IV and V. ??sThe Space Launch System team is not just building one rocket but manufacturing several rockets for exploration missions and future SLS flights beyond the initial Artemis launch,??? said John Honeycutt, SLS program manager at NASA???s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. ??sThe Artemis I mission is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will extend our presence on the Moon. The SLS rocket???s unprecedented power and capabilities will send missions farther and faster throughout the solar system.??? With its two solid rocket boosters and four RS-25 engines, SLS produces more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch each Artemis mission beyond Earth???s orbit and onward to the Moon. The rocket features some of the largest, most advanced, and most reliable hardware elements ever built for space exploration. To power the agency???s next-generation deep space missions, SLS delivers propulsion in phases. At liftoff, the core stage with its four RS-25 engines and the twin boosters fire to propel SLS off the launch pad into orbit. Once in orbit, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) provides the in-space propulsion to send NASA???s Orion spacecraft and its crew on a precise trajectory toward the Moon. Where: Promontory, Utah, United Kingdom When: 27 Oct 2021 Credit: NASA/Cover Images **EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MATERIALS ONLY TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDITORIAL STORY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS FOR ADVERTISING, MARKETING OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. MATERIAL COPYRIGHT REMAINS WITH STATED SUPPLIER.**
