![]() “For Core Stage-3 (CS-3), the LOX tank is critical path to ‘4/5ths’ join,” Burroughs said. Outfitting or “integration” of the engine section typically takes the most amount of work and time to complete and is therefore often the primary schedule driver or “critical path,” but issues with completing the liquid oxygen (LOX) tank structure have pushed its production timelines and those related to it out into a similar timeframe. Two views of the intertank for Core Stage-3 in its integration area at Michoud in October. “Obviously that depends on the readiness of the bay and the readiness of the engine section, but right now it’s postured to be at the end of next year.” “The current forecast is the end of next year to move into the high bay,” Tim Burroughs, Boeing’s Integrated Product Team Lead for both Core Stage-2 and Core Stage-3, said in a recent interview at MAF with NSF. The rest of the stage will continue to be assembled at MAF and then that “subassembly” of the other four of the five major stage elements will be transported by barge to KSC for final assembly in High Bay 2 of the VAB. The structure of the engine section for the Artemis III core stage was transported to KSC last December for outfitting with all of its working equipment, which will be done from now on in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). Work on the third core stage is aiming toward completion in 2025, with the final phase of production moving from MAF in New Orleans to facilities at KSC. The core stage for Artemis II is in its final integrated testing ahead of completion in the next several weeks, and while that is the focus of Boeing’s production work at MAF, NASA is still pressing toward a scheduled launch of the next mission – Artemis III – only a year after the target date for Artemis II at the end of 2024. Structures for the Artemis IV core stage are also in production, with delivery of the engine section structure to Florida expected in the first part of next year.Īrtemis III core stage will debut new final assembly methods The first core stage to be completed at KSC will be the unit for Artemis III Boeing has already transported the engine section to Florida to complete its outfitting and is hoping to have its new facilities in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) ready by the end of 2024 - the same time as it intends the stage hardware for that launch to be ready for final assembly. The core stage for Artemis II is the last one that will be completed at MAF, with future builds now planned to undergo final construction at their launch site, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. As Boeing nears completing final assembly of NASA’s second Space Launch System (SLS) core stage at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, the space agency’s prime contractor for SLS stages is continuing production of hardware for the next two units.
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