As NASA prepares for its long-awaited return of crewed launches beyond low Earth orbit with Artemis II, the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans has served as America’s premier rocket factory for more than six decades, spanning three major eras of human spaceflight.
Spanning 832 acres with more than two million square feet of manufacturing space under one roof, the site has produced the massive hardware that powered U.S. ambitions from the Moon landings through the Space Shuttle era and now to the Space Launch System (SLS) for Artemis.
NASA acquired the former Michoud Ordnance Plant in 1961 on the recommendation of Wernher von Braun.
Originally built during World War II for cargo planes and later used for tank engines, the facility offered vast bays, high ceilings, and critical barge access along the Intracoastal Waterway and Mississippi River — infrastructure ideal for assembling enormous rocket components destined for Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
In the 1960s, contractors Chrysler and Boeing transformed Michoud into a production hub for the Saturn rocket family.
Chrysler built the S-IB first stages for the Saturn IB, while Boeing manufactured the massive S-IC first stages for the Saturn V — then the most powerful rocket ever flown.
Saturn rocket hardware at Michoud, via NASA
Production continued through December 1972, supporting the Apollo program’s historic lunar landings. The completed stages were often shipped by barge for testing at Stennis and Marshall Space Flight Centers before final transit to Florida.
After Apollo concluded, Michoud pivoted to the Space Shuttle program. From 1973 to 2010, prime contractor Martin Marietta (later Lockheed Martin) produced all 136 Space Shuttle external tanks (ETs) at the facility.
The first flight-ready tank rolled out in 1979 for STS-1; the final one departed in 2010 for STS-134. They transited on the Pegasus Barge, which has since been modified for carrying SLS core stages.
The first two tanks were painted white due to concerns about ultraviolet degradation of the spray-on foam insulation (Thermal Protection System).
Once testing confirmed the foam was stable without paint, NASA eliminated the coating — saving several hundred pounds of weight and increasing payload capacity.
The tanks’ natural orange color, from the foam itself (which sometimes tanned further in sunlight), became iconic and is now familiar on SLS core stages.
Four Shuttle External Tanks lined up for a Michoud All-Hands meeting, via L2.
With the Shuttle’s retirement, Michoud adapted once again for the SLS program.
Boeing serves as the prime contractor for the 212-foot-tall core stage. Lockheed Martin also fabricates Orion spacecraft pressure vessels and launch abort system components on-site.
The first core stage powered the successful uncrewed Artemis I flight in 2022.
For Artemis II — the first crewed mission since Apollo, which will send four astronauts on a lunar flyby — the second core stage rolled out from Michoud’s Building 110 transfer aisle on July 16, 2024, exactly 55 years after Apollo 11’s launch. It was then rolled to NASA’s Pegasus barge for transport to Kennedy Space Center.
Production processes have evolved with experience. Early SLS stages relied heavily on horizontal assembly at Michoud, but NASA and Boeing have optimized workflows for greater efficiency.
Starting with Artemis III, the “top four-fifths” of the core stage (forward skirt, LOX tank, intertank, and LH2 tank) are largely completed at Michoud, while final engine section outfitting and mating occur at Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building to support parallel work on multiple stages.
On January 8, 2026, teams at Michoud completed the major forward/aft join for Core Stage-3 (Artemis III), securing four of the five major components. Systems integration and checks are now underway, with shipment to Kennedy planned later in 2026.
Artemis III is currently targeted for a mid-2027 launch window as a crewed low-Earth orbit test flight following a program replan that emphasizes systems validation, including rendezvous and docking with commercial lunar landers.
Work continues on core stages for Artemis IV and beyond. A dedicated area at Michoud originally designated for the more powerful Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) for Block 1B configurations will be repurposed after NASA cancelled the EUS program in favor of United Launch Alliance’s Centaur V upper stage for future missions.
Michoud’s workforce has earned deep respect across NASA and contractor teams.
Their personal stories include some dark moments, such as dealing with mainstream media reporters badgering workers after the 2003 Columbia disaster (when foam from an external tank struck the orbiter’s wing) and demonstrating resilience by maintaining production after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a 2017 tornado — often while workers’ own homes were damaged or destroyed.
As NASA aims to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade — with contributions from commercial partners including Blue Origin and SpaceX — the Michoud Assembly Facility remains central to that ambition.
Our entire plan of action for returning to the moon has needed major reform for years—but the powers that be in the US have shown almost no real urgency for most of that time.
Even though this newly-founded plan of action for Artemis III and beyond is still incredibly ambitious,… pic.twitter.com/LzMYtWteji
— Max Evans (@_MaxQ_) March 24, 2026
Lead image render: Gage for NSF.
The post America’s Rocket Factory comes Full Circle with Artemis appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
Comments
Post a Comment