As NASA pushes out the schedule for Artemis II and III, development of the first major upgrade to the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is moving into qualification. SLS Stages prime contractor Boeing is activating production areas for the new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans in parallel with refining assembly and outfitting techniques for the stage.
EUS is the major piece of the new SLS Block 1B configuration, which NASA currently plans to debut on the Artemis IV mission at the end of 2028. Boeing was working to finish validating the final weld schedules on weld confidence articles once the last weld tools shared with core stage production becomes available; after that, work will proceed into assembly of the EUS structural test article (STA), with hopes of completing that next year.