SLS engine section completed

NEW ORLEANS - NASA and prime contractor Boeing formally signed off on the first assembly of the most complicated element of the space agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. After a review of data from two months of functional testing at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, the engine section element of the first SLS Core Stage is complete and is now cleared to be mated to the rest of the vehicle. The next step is to move the engine section and boattail to another building, rotate them from vertical to horizontal, and then come back for bolting to the aft end of the stage in the last “major join” in its assembly. Boeing continues to aim to complete the full stage in December and barge it to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for a full, integrated checkout and acceptance firing as part of the Green Run test campaign. (Source: NASAspaceflight, 08/25/19)