August 2018 — A view from the upper levels of the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The massive blue structure supports the assembly and welding of the Space Launch System’s core stage, the primary rocket used for Artemis missions. This 170-foot-tall tool precisely aligns and joins large rocket sections, a key part of NASA’s ongoing production of deep space launch vehicles.

August 2018 — A stairwell winds through the interior of NASA’s Vertical Assembly Center at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The industrial structure, with its orange and blue framework, provides access to various levels of the 170-foot-tall welding system used to assemble core stages of the Space Launch System. The facility supports precision manufacturing for the Artemis program’s heavy-lift rockets.

August 2018 — Looking downward inside the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, this view shows the precision alignment and welding platform used to assemble rocket stages. The towering blue and yellow structure is part of the tooling for the Space Launch System core stage, where massive aluminum sections are friction-stir welded to form part of NASA’s Artemis launch vehicles.

August 2018 — An elevated view of the overhead gantry crane system inside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. These yellow steel cranes are used to lift and maneuver rocket sections, including the massive Space Launch System core stages, within the cavernous production hall. The network of platforms, rails, and suspended hooks demonstrates the industrial scale of spacecraft manufacturing that has taken place here since the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.

August 2018 — A high-angle view inside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans shows the enormous vertical welding and assembly bays used to build sections of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The towering circular structure on the left is part of the Vertical Weld Center, where cylindrical rocket segments are precisely joined using friction-stir welding. Catwalks and access platforms ring the interior, supporting technicians during construction of the world’s most powerful launch vehicle for the Artemis program.

August 2018 — Inside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, this massive blue structure is the Vertical Weld Center, used to fabricate the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The machine employs friction-stir welding to join aluminum panels into large cylindrical sections that form the rocket’s fuel tanks. Operated by precision robotics, the weld center is one of the tallest of its kind in the world and plays a central role in preparing hardware for Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

August 2018 — The towering interior of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where major components for the Space Launch System rocket are fabricated and assembled. The multilevel platforms, access walkways, and heavy structural supports surround the massive Vertical Assembly Area—an environment designed for precision alignment of rocket stages that will power Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

August 2018 — Looking down into the massive cleaning cell inside the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. The massive washing facility is used to wash the insides of the Space Launch System(SLS) fuel tanks. The SLS rocket will be the world’s largest rocket ever built.

August 2018 — The large Space Launch System print on the wall was placed there to show what is being built in this room.