NASA goes one step further with Artemis 2, integrating all rocket core structures.

Taking a step closer to the much-anticipated Artemis II mission, a team from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has successfully integrated five major structures from the Space Launch System (SLS) ; the center stage of the rocket. On March 17, a group of technicians got together to put the engine part into the rocket stage. The next step that awaits them is to integrate four RS-25 engines into the engine section.

According to the official NASA website, the engine section is 212 feet high below the center stage. This is the most difficult step in terms of complexity, as it essentially helps to advance the entire task.It also serves as a key attachment point for the RS-25 engine and two solid boosters that release 8.8 million pounds of thrust during takeoff.

From construction to assembly, the Michoud factory has the center stage of Artemis II. All stages lead up to Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission that will pull four astronauts into space for a trip around the moon, before sending them home.

The mission is important because its crew, consisting of a woman and a man of color, will land on the Moon for the first time in the history of exploration. time.NASA is expected to announce the Crew Dragon Artemis II in early April, according to Bill Nelson, the space agency administrator.

"On April 3, we will announce the crew for the first moon mission in over half a century. Four astronauts, three Americans and one Canadian, will orbit the moon. ," Nelson said in an announcement. NASA address earlier this month. The mission sent astronauts to the Moon for the first time in decades, after the famous Apollo missions ended in 1972.