NASA wants to send the first woman and next man to the moon in 2024, and major pieces of the program, known as
Artemis, are being built at the Michoud assembly complex in New Orleans East.
It’s #Artemis Day at America’s rocket factory! The #SLS core stage is completely assembled and preparing to ship to Stennis for the #GreenRun test. @JimBridenstine and I are grateful to @NASA employees at MAF and their families for all their dedicated efforts. pic.twitter.com/j0WW1BFPPZ
— Jim Morhard (@jmorhard)
December 9, 2019 The sprawling facility is where they are building the core stage of the Space Launch System -- the rocket that will blast astronauts into the first trip beyond low-earth-orbit since the 1970s. John Honeycutt, program manager for NASA for the SLS, said it means 600 to 800 jobs just on the rocket alone, and many more at Michoud supported by the Artemis program.
"We can go from a 90 pound female to a 240 pound male," said Joe Arbes with Lockheed-Martin.
While there may not be too many astronauts at either extreme of that range, Lockheed Martin's Colin Sipe said it is important that this vehicle handle a broader spectrum of astronaut.
"When you stop and kind of step back from it, it's absolutely not lost on me when I reflect on the contributions and the women who have come before me," she said. "Even now, I struggle for a word, because it feels like such an incredible honor to even work with this team, to lead this team, is really something very special."
Artemis' goal is a manned moon mission by 2024, and build on that success to eventually take men and women to Mars and beyond.
