Boeing SLS Core Stage Dome Section, NASA Michoud

A completed dome section for the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage is staged outside the Boeing production area at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. This massive component, designed to cap propellant tanks, is crucial for the SLS rocket, which supports NASA's Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the Moon. The Michoud Assembly Facility has a long history of aerospace manufacturing, producing components for programs from Apollo to the Space Shuttle, and now continues its legacy with the SLS. Resting on a mobile transport frame, the advanced aerospace structure stands against the weathered facade of an assembly hangar, highlighting the facility's enduring role in space exploration. Related photographs from the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where NASA’s Space Launch System core stages are assembled for Artemis missions.