Artemis V Engine Section Barrel Enters Vertical Assembly Center

Teams at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans load the engine section barrel into the vertical assembly center on Aug. 5, 2026. The engine section will be used on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s core stage for the agency’s Artemis V mission. On the vertical assembly center tooling, teams will mate the flight hardware to a ring, which will serve as an attachment point for the liquid hydrogen tank later in the production process. The engine section is one of five major elements that make up the 212-foot-tall SLS rocket stage; and houses various avionic systems, the engine thrust structure, and four RS-25 engines. The core stage produces more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis.

Location: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility