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WATCH: Testing on Boeing-Built Space Launch System Core Stage Continues at Stennis Space Center

By  //  February 23, 2020

core stage currently installed into the same test stand that was used to test Apollo rockets

ABOVE VIDEO: Testing on the Boeing-built Space Launch System (SLS) core stage continues at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

(NASA) – Testing on the Boeing-built Space Launch System (SLS) core stage continues at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

The SLS is the backbone of NASA’s deep space exploration missions and will be used to send the first woman and next man to the Moon for its Artemis program.

The core stage is currently installed into the same test stand that was used to test the Apollo rockets during the 1960s and 70s, and the space shuttle’s main propulsion system prior to its first flight.

Crews used two cranes to lift the 212-foot-long stage 11 stories high before lowering it into the B2 Test Stand.

Boeing and NASA engineers completed modal testing, the first of a series of tests called the Green Run.

Electric motors called “shakers” and hand-held calibrated impulse hammers were used to verify the core stage can structurally withstand the pressures it will encounter on its way to space.

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Electric motors called “shakers” and hand-held calibrated impulse hammers were used to verify the core stage can structurally withstand the pressures it will encounter on its way to space. (NASA image)

Green Run will conclude with the “hot fire” test, where all of the rocket’s engines will run simultaneously for 8.5 minutes to simulate the first launch.

Boeing is responsible for the design, development, testing and manufacture of the SLS core and upper stages, as well as the avionics for NASA’s only rocket designed to take humans into deep space destinations, including the Moon and Mars.

Components for the SLS core stages being used for NASA’s Artemis II and III missions are already in production at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Once Green Run is complete, the core stage will be transported to Kennedy Space Center where it will be used to launch NASA’s Artemis I mission.

Dozens of employees in Boeing’s Titusville location support the design and testing of the SLS.

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Boeing is responsible for the design, development, testing and manufacture of the SLS core and upper stages, as well as the avionics for NASA’s only rocket designed to take humans into deep space destinations, including the Moon and Mars. (NASA image)

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