![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/MAF_20200108_CS1-rollout_drone-TAM-0014large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNow that the first of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stages has shipped from the factory, prime contractor Boeing is refining production plans for the second flight article and continuing negotiations with the civilian space agency for future production. The production team at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans is applying lessons learned from the process of completing the first Core to building the second one while NASA and Boeing are planning to build more.<\/p>\n
NASA and Boeing have agreed to begin ordering long lead elements for the third Core that the agency prizes for the final flight in a series of launches for the high-priority Artemis 3 mission. Once the long lead items like machined structures and early parts arrive at MAF the current estimate is that production in the factory will take three years.<\/p>\n
With the long lead orders placed, there should be enough margin to produce the rocket stage in time to fly Artemis 3 by the December, 2024, deadline; however, before that work can accelerate a new contract between the agency and the contractor still must be agreed to. NASA decided late last Summer to sole-source a production and evolution contract for future Core Stages to Boeing and negotiations on the terms are expected to continue through much of 2020.<\/p>\n
With the experience of a full build under its belt and seeing improvements the production quality so far of the second Core Stage, Boeing is hoping to get the go ahead to establish a supply chain and a production line around its existing tooling and ramp-up to a production rate of one unit every eight months, or three Core Stages every two years. For now, Core Stage-2 is the last one under contract with delivery currently scheduled for Spring of 2022.<\/p>\n
Applying lessons learned to second build and production plans<\/p>\n
Even before the first build left the factory earlier this month, Boeing was incorporating lessons learned to production of the second flight article which will fly as a part of the SLS vehicle for the Artemis 2 lunar test flight. The prime contractor is also using the knowledge gained from the build for planning production of future Cores.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agency and the program were frustrated due to the lack of progress and our inability to hold schedule,\u201d NASA SLS Program Manager John Honeycutt said recently. \u201cThat said though I\u2019m fully aware that we were building the system to build a lot of these Core Stages and we\u2019re putting the system together in parallel with building the first one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time you do first-time operations, a) you go slow to make sure you do it right and b) stuff can go wrong,\u201d John Shannon, Boeing\u2019s Vice President and Program Manager for SLS, explained when the first Core rolled out of the factory on January 8. \u201cRight up until the night before [rollout] we were doing things that we had never done before, these first-time operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Credit: NASA\/Tyler Martin.<\/p>\n
(Photo Caption: Core Stage-1 rolls out of the factory at Michoud on January 8 with much of the production team that assembled and tested it nearby. In this aerial view from a drone, the stage is also flanked by the buildings where it was put together. Building 110 is the high-bay where vertical manufacturing, assembly, and other processing occurs. To the left behind the workers, Building 103 is where the stage elements were first outfitted with electronics, wiring, and moving parts, and then where horizontal final assembly occurred. In the distance on the eastern end of Building 103, the newer high-bay Building 115 is also used by SLS for initial structural welding.)<\/em><\/p>\n Aerospace & Defense (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Before Boeing could fully start production at MAF, new tooling had to be built to assemble the structures for the large, crew-rated rocket; during production, work instructions for putting the equipment together had to be established. Stuff went wrong in both areas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues that caused us to be two years late were associated with the new tooling that we used to weld the vehicle together and some issues that we had with that process,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cWe had never done friction stir welding for material that was that thick and we learned some lessons from that and I\u2019m happy to say the second Core Stage went together flawlessly with no issues so we\u2019ve gotten past that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe other issue that I think caused us some difficulty was we really underestimated the complexity of building the engine section, which is the bottom of the rocket that holds all of the propulsion elements and all of the TVC and hydraulic elements,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n