Manufacturing and assembly development work for the Space Launch System (SLS) Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) is starting to ramp up at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. NASA’s SLS Program and EUS prime contractor Boeing are preparing to begin construction of the test and flight articles that will be needed to certify and fly the new upper stage’s first launch.
A structural test article (STA) will be assembled at MAF and tested at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. The first flight article will then be completed and travel from Michoud to the relatively nearby Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi for a Green Run test campaign similar to the one that the first Core Stage is going through.