Naomi Cooper
Boeing and NASA have jointly unveiled a new manufacturing area at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, where it will accommodate the production of exploration upper stage for future flights of the Space Launch System rocket.
The EUS Gray Box Assembly Area houses tools and equipment necessary to produce the second stage of the SLS Block 1B configuration for the Artemis IV mission, Boeing said Wednesday.
The fully human-rated stage will replace the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System that powered the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which lifted off in November 2022 from a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It will provide 97,000 pounds of thrust to send the Artemis crew and large cargo shipments to deep space.
The EUS assembly area was unveiled after Boeing and NASA shifted some of the SLS core stage assembly work to Kennedy Space Center from the Michoud Assembly Facility.
