Barrel Assembly Tooling at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility

Precision barrel tooling used in the assembly of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage stands on the production floor at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. These fixtures hold massive aluminum panels in place during the friction stir welding process, ensuring perfect alignment and uniform curvature for the rocket’s cylindrical sections. Behind the tooling, the metallic structure of a completed barrel segment can be seen, ready for the next stage of integration. Related photographs from the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where NASA’s Space Launch System core stages are assembled for Artemis missions.