The Space Launch System core stage, or simply core stage, is the main stage of the American Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, built by The Boeing Company in the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility. At 65 m (212 ft) tall and 8.4 m (27.6 ft) in diameter, the core stage contains approximately 987 t (2,177,000 lb) of its liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen cryogenic propellants. Propelled by 4 RS-25 engines, the stage generates approximately 7.44 MN (1,670,000 lbf) of thrust, about 25% of the Space Launch System's thrust at liftoff, for approximately 500 seconds, propelling the stage alone for the last 375 seconds of flight. The stage lifts the rocket to an altitude of approximately 162 km (531,380 ft) before separating, reentering the atmosphere, and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
The core stage originated in 2011, when the architecture of the Space Launch System as a whole was defined. In the aftermath of the end of the Space Shuttle program and the cancellation of its prospective replacement the Constellation program, the SLS emerged, a super-heavy lift launch vehicle intended for human spaceflight to the Moon.[3] The core stage is the first newly-developed stage of the SLS; the ICPS (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage) and five-segment boosters are adaptations of existing hardware, to be replaced by the Exploration Upper Stage and BOLE boosters respectively.
Production of core stages began by 2014, but was beset by numerous difficulties in production and testing which delayed the readiness of the first core stage by several years. The core stage first flew on November 16, 2022, on the Artemis 1 mission, in which it performed successfully. As of 2023, the second, third, and fourth core stages are in production, while work has begun for the fifth and sixth, their production pending the transfer of SLS operations to Deep Space Transport, the vehicle's future operator.
^ abcdeHarbaugh, Jennifer (February 4, 2020). "Space Launch System Core Stage". NASA. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
^"NASA Artemis I Press Kit". NASA. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
^Boen, Brooke (June 6, 2013). "NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System". NASA. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
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