NASA's next lunar mission has deep New Orleans roots
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Hansel Gill is the director of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
New Orleans built the backbone of NASA's next Moon mission.
Why it matters: Artemis II will mark NASA's first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years — and a major piece of the rocket was made in New Orleans East.
The big picture: Workers at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility built the "orange parts" of the Space Launch System that will carry the Orion spacecraft, Michoud director Hansel Gill says.
- The 10-day Artemis II mission will see U.S. astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canadian Jeremy Hansen, fly around the Moon and back.
- NASA hopes to launch in April after delaying twice already.
Zoom out: The new launch system is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. The long-term goal is to use it for a deep-space mission to Mars.
- It's the only system capable of sending the spacecraft, astronauts and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
- Michoud built the system's core stage, which NASA calls the "backbone" of the rocket. Boeing is the prime contractor.
- A massive barge called Pegasus transported it to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
How it works: The 212-foot-tall core stage includes four engines, two propellant tanks, and flight computers, according to NASA.
- The tanks hold 733,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, fueling the engines for eight minutes until the rocket reaches low-Earth orbit.
- The core stage will then separate from Orion.
Zoom in: Michoud is one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the country at more than 2 million square feet, Gill said at a recent media event in Huntsville, Alabama.
- It covers 40 acres under its roof, or 31 football fields, he said, and employs more than 3,500 people.
- "Michoud has loads of capability" and "a vibrant workforce that completely loves playing its integral role in producing hardware for the NASA mission," Gill said.
- "We've been making meaningful contributions to the agency for close to 65 years, and I ... believe we are well positioned to continue to make those contributions."
What's next: They're already working on Artemis III, IV and V at Michoud, Gill said.
- The Artemis IV mission aims to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028.
Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick contributed to this story.
