Officials are showing off the work crews are doing in New Orleans to help send Americans back to the moon and on to Mars.
NASA wants to return to the moon in 2024.
The Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is home to the rocket core stage for the Artemis moon mission.
Facility director Robert Champion says they are now prepairing to put the engines into the spacecraft.
“It’s equivalent in complexity to what we built in Apollo in the fact that it is the tankage, it's the propulsion system, it's the engines, it's avionics, it's the entire stage that controls the vehicle.”
He says the crew is excited to play a crucial role in history.
“This is a milestone in our careers, and everybody is pumped about the opportunity to get us back to the moon.”
The goal is to have the first spacecraft ready in the next six months.
“We are pressing hard to get this done. Right now, we’re expecting to have the vehicle complete and ready for shipment by the end of this year,” said Champion.