NASA rolls out rocket from Michoud for Artemis II moon mission

Kenny Lopez
·1 min read

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — On Tuesday, July 16, NASA took a major step in its Artemis II mission to the moon and then later, to Mars.

Crews at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East are rolling out NASA’s core stage to the Pegasus barge, upon which it will embark on a 900-mile journey from the Michoud Assembly Facility to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage can basically be seen as the backbone of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

NASA rocket being moved from New Orleans facility for Artemis II mission

The component will be integrated with other elements of the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in order to prepare the Artemis II launch for flight around the moon and beyond.

NASA’s SLS rocket is the only rocket capable of carrying a crew and large cargo into deep space in a single launch.

NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color and first international partner astronaut on the moon under Artemis missions.

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Boeing built the 212-foot core stage, while Lockheed Martin built the Orion crew module, which will carry four astronauts to orbit.

It will take the core stage about seven days to get to Florida.

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