Artemis II SLS Rocket Booster Segments Make Their Grand Arrival at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

The 10 booster motor segments that will form the NASA Space Launch System rocket’s twin, five-segment solid rocket boosters for the agency’s Artemis II mission, arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Monday, September 25, 2023. Due to their weight, the booster motor segments traveled by rail across eight states in specialized transporters to the Florida spaceport. Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems will process each of the segments at Kennedy in preparation for launch. Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will blast off from Kennedy, traveling around the Moon on the first crewed mission under Artemis that will test all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems. Credit: NASA

NASA’s SLS rocket segments, crucial for the Artemis II mission to the Moon, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center. They’ll form key boosters providing significant thrust at liftoff. The Artemis II will be a pivotal crewed test for the Orion spacecraft with four astronauts onboard.

The 10 booster motor segments for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help propel the Artemis II astronauts on a trip around the Moon arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 25. They will form the SLS rocket’s twin, five-segment solid rocket boosters, which produce more than 75% of the total thrust at liftoff, to send NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon.

Due to their weight, the 10 booster motor segments traveled by rail across eight states in specialized transporters to the spaceport. Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program now are preparing to process each of the segments inside the space center’s Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility ahead of integrating them inside the Vehicle Assembly Building.

We need a bigger booster for the bold missions NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will give us the capability to achieve. This infographic sums up everything you need to know about the Space Launch System Solid Rocket Booster or SRB. The booster uses a 5-segment solid propellant motor, and the motor is the largest component of the booster. Credit: NASA/MSFC

“The arrival of the SLS solid rocket booster motor segments is an important turning point as NASA and our Artemis partners begin readying for stacking and launch preparations for Artemis II,” said Amit Kshatriya, Deputy Associate Administrator for the Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters. “Fully stacked, these boosters for NASA’s SLS rocket are the largest, most powerful ever built for spaceflight and will help send the first astronauts around the Moon in more than 50 years.”

Manufactured by SLS booster lead contractor Northrop Grumman in Utah, the SLS solid rocket boosters have three major assemblies with the motor segment being the largest portion of the booster. Teams will inspect them along with the forward and aft skirt assemblies of the boosters. They will then rotate the segments to a vertical position in preparation for stacking operations for Artemis II. The top and bottom portions of the boosters were previously assembled in the Booster Fabrication Facility at Kennedy.

Two 177-foot-tall solid rocket boosters help launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis missions to the Moon. Each booster is made up of several large structures that are assembled and prepared for launch by the Exploration Ground Systems team at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Kevin O’Brien

Once processing is complete, crews will move all the major segments one at a time to the Vehicle Assembly Building where they will get stacked to form each of the 17-story-tall boosters that flank each side of the rocket. Following completion, engineers and technicians will integrate the rocket’s core stage. Together, the SLS rocket’s twin boosters and the core stage’s four RS-25 engines produce more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

Artemis II is the first crewed Artemis mission and will test all the Orion spacecraft’s systems with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, aboard before future missions to the Moon.