NASA assembles Artemis 2 rocket for historic mission to the moon

NASA is making significant progress in its mission to send astronauts back to the moon with the assembly of the Artemis 2 rocket. The mission is part of the Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024. In a video released by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, viewers can watch the assembly of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage for Artemis 2 at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

The Artemis 2 mission is a test flight that will see a crew of four astronauts circle the moon once before returning to Earth. The mission will serve as an opportunity to test and verify various systems and procedures aboard the Orion spacecraft. The crew for Artemis 2 was recently announced and includes three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut.

The assembly process of the Artemis 2 rocket

The assembly process of the Artemis 2 rocket is a significant milestone in the mission to return humans to the moon. The rocket, which will be the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA, consists of five segments of a 212-foot (65-meter) fuselage that have been joined together. The engine block was the final component added to the rocket.

In the video shared by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, viewers can see engineers working to align and bolt the bottom of the SLS vehicle to the rest of the stage. The assembly process involves using mobile supports to slowly roll the massive sections into place, which are then secured to one another using a total of 360 bolts. Once the core stage is fully assembled, the next step will be to install the vehicle's four RS-25 engines.

The assembled core stage will then be shipped through the Gulf of Mexico to Florida's Space Coast, where the full launch vehicle will take shape. The ground crews at NASA's Kennedy Space Center will attach the vehicle's solid rocket boosters and mate the core to the rocket's second stage, known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), in addition to the Orion capsule and its European service module.

Target launch date for Artemis 2

NASA is targeting November 2024 for the launch of the Artemis 2 mission. If everything goes according to plan, the crew of four astronauts, consisting of three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut, will embark on a test flight that will see them circle the moon once before returning back to Earth.

The data gathered during the Artemis 2 mission will be critical in informing future Artemis program missions. NASA is committed to sending the first woman and the next man to the moon by 2024 and has been working tirelessly towards this goal.