Marshall's role: SLS, OSA

Marshall Space Flight Center has played a major role in the Artemis II mission.

Why it matters: Huntsville is the Rocket City, and the Artemis rocket has a lot to do with this city and the thousands of locals who worked on it.

Zoom in: Marshall is the lead center managing the Space Launch System, the super-heavy lift launch platform that's propelling the Orion spacecraft.

• Leading that effort is John Blevins, SLS chief engineer, who we interviewed back in August after he won a "Sammie."

Case in point: On the hardware manufacturing side, Marshall produced the Orion Stage Adapter, a crucial piece of hardware connecting SLS with the Orion spacecraft.

• The 5-foot-tall, 18-foot-diameter structure includes a dome-shaped barrier protecting astronauts from gases that can escape during launch, and houses four small satellites.
• We first covered it back in August, when it was packed and shipped down to Kennedy for the launch.

💭 Derek's thought bubble: I can't look at the rocket now without immediately finding the OSA: the slightly conical piece near the top with the two offset black squares.

Marshall will also keep an eye on mission data and provide ground support via the SLS Engineering Support Center.

More from Axios: Artemis II heads to launch with Marshall on deck