Artemis III Liquid Hydrogen Tank Moves On To The Next Phase of Production

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move the liquid hydrogen tank of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to Cell A for white light scans of the tank’s dimensions in preparation of multiple join activities throughout the manufacturing process.

The flight hardware will be used for Artemis III, one of the first crewed Artemis missions.

The liquid hydrogen tank holds 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen cooled to minus 432 degrees Fahrenheit and is the largest of the five elements that make up the rocket’s 212-foot-tall core stage. The liquid hydrogen tank is situated between the core stage’s intertank and engine section.

The liquid hydrogen hardware, along with the liquid oxygen tank, will provide propellant to the four RS-25 engines at the bottom of the core stage to produce more than two million pounds of thrust to launch NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon.

Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker NASA ID: MAF_20221220_CS3_LH2toCellA05 Larger image