Northrop Grumman has shipped the final eight twin solid rocket booster motor segments for NASA’s Artemis III mission to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where they will be stacked this summer.
The solid rocket boosters’ performance is ready now to support NASA’s goal of sustained lunar exploration and eventual missions to Mars.
Upon arrival, the booster segments will join the previously delivered segments shipped in April to be the first hardware assembled on the mobile launch platform.
According to the company, Northrop Grumman’s solid rocket boosters generate 7.2 million pounds of thrust at lift-off, providing much of the thrust needed for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) during the Artemis III mission, which will send astronauts and critical cargo aboard the Orion spacecraft to test rendezvous operations in low-Earth orbit (LEO) with human landing systems.
Northrop Grumman claims it can accelerate solid rocket motor production to meet NASA’s increased Artemis mission launch cadence while supporting broader national security and space exploration objectives.