New Orleans-built rocket heads to Kennedy Space Center for Artemis III mission
- The core stage of the Louisiana-built rocket that will lift the Artemis III crew into space rolled out of the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
"Happy Rollout Day."
That's how NASA employees and space contractors greeted each other Monday at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East as the core stage of the Louisiana-built rocket that will lift the Artemis III crew into space rolled out of the facility.
"We have a really talented team here," said Jordan Falgout, Boeing deputy project manager. "We have folks that perform some of the most complex electrical work, mechanical work, welding that's done in this industry. So, we're really proud to be part of this mission."
About 1,500 workers at Michoud built the SLS core stage — along with the Orion crew capsule and the Artemis launch abort system.
For more than half a century, the facility has been America's rocket factory, building the Saturn V rocket stages that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, and later producing the massive external fuel tanks for every Space Shuttle mission.
Today, its state-of-the-art manufacturing and welding equipment, including the world's largest friction stir welding tool, allows workers to build several core stages simultaneously.
NASA officials were also on hand to personally thank those working on the program, just 10 days after a successful Artemis II mission wrapped up.
"Rolling this rocket out now, right after Artemis II got home, says something else about who we are," said Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator. "We want to fly. Let's go. That's what we're doing."
The 212-foot-tall core stage takes about three hours to make the 1.3-mile trip from the factory floor to the Pegasus Barge, docked inside the Michoud complex. The voyage to Kennedy Space Center across the Gulf typically takes six to eight days, covering roughly 900 miles.
Astronaut Nichole Ayers, who may soon be sitting on top of a rocket like this, had a message for the workers who built it.
"To be cliché, human spaceflight is the greatest team sport that we have," Ayers said. "We trust you guys with everything that we have. We trust you the mission is going to go off safely."
The Artemis III launch is currently targeted for mid-2027. The mission will send astronauts into Earth's orbit to test the rendezvous and docking capabilities needed to transfer crew to a commercial lunar lander. It will be the final step before landing astronauts on the moon in 2028.
With Artemis III heading out the door, two more rockets are already in the pipeline at Michoud.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno was among the dignitaries attending Monday's rollout.
“To be part of Artemis III and to continue the Artemis program going right here in the city of New Orleans is incredibly exciting, but what I think is even more exciting is because of Artemis, it’s creating this level of interest in New Orleans,” Moreno said.
NASA is expected to begin stacking the rocket components at KSC this summer. If all goes according to plan, there are expected to be many more rollout days like this at Michoud.
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