SLS’s next stage gets stacked at the Kennedy Space Center

Seth Kurkowski | Jul 7 2021 - 1:36 pm PT

It’s a slow process but NASA is stacking their first Space Launch System rocket in the VAB at Kennedy Space Center. The newest part was just stacked in the last few days.

The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) was built by United Launch Alliance and is based on their Delta IV upper stage. It uses the same fuel and engine as the Delta IV’s upper stage but has specific modifications for SLS’s lunar missions.

It was stacked over the holiday weekend by NASA and Jacobs Engineering employees in High Bay 3 of the Vehicles Assembly Building, the same building that was used to build NASA’s Saturn V rockets and assemble the Space Shuttle into their launch configurations. The next item to be stacked will be the Orion crew vehicle before a rollout of the full launch vehicle later this year for testing.

The ICPS is a liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen-based system that will fire its RL 10 engine to give the Orion spacecraft the big in-space push needed to fly tens of thousands of miles beyond the Moon. pic.twitter.com/41HHB7FwVS
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) July 7, 2021

In this closer view, teams with Exploration Ground Systems and contractor @JacobsConnects integrate the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) for @NASA_SLS with the launch vehicle stage adapter (LVSA) atop one of the 10 levels of platforms (20 halves) in High Bay 3. pic.twitter.com/iWh90w8RtQ
— NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) July 7, 2021

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