While NASA navigates challenges with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the agency is pressing forward with another pivotal space infrastructure project: the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Designed to transport astronauts to the moon and beyond, the SLS is NASA’s most powerful rocket yet. In 2022, it successfully completed a test flight around the moon as part of the Artemis I mission. Now, NASA is gearing up for the Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight of the SLS, slated for September 2025.
Unlike the Starliner, which ferries astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station, the Artemis II mission will utilize a different spacecraft called Orion. But launching a mission requires more than just a rocket and spacecraft. There are numerous critical components, such as the launch vehicle stage adapter, which recently departed the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and is now making its way to the Kennedy Space Center. This adapter will join other parts, including the recently arrived rocket core stage, where the fuel and avionics systems reside.
“The launch vehicle stage adapter is the largest SLS component for Artemis II that is made at the center,” said Chris Calfee, SLS Spacecraft Payload Integration and Evolution Element manager. “Both the adapters for the SLS rocket that will power the Artemis II and Artemis III missions are fully produced at NASA Marshall. Alabama plays a key role in returning astronauts to the moon.”
The adapter is a colossal, cone-shaped piece that connects the rocket’s core to the upper stage, which houses four engines responsible for guiding the spacecraft once it enters orbit. The adapter’s conical shape serves to safeguard these upper stage engines during launch. The rocket’s lower stage engines propel the vehicle through the atmosphere and break free from Earth’s gravitational pull.
Due to its immense size, the adapter cannot be transported by air. Instead, it’s loaded onto a Pegasus barge and transported first to New Orleans, where it will collect additional SLS hardware. From there, it will continue its journey to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
