Building a 21st Century Launch Vehicle

Space launch systems are inherently risky endeavors taking a tremendous amount of energy to get to orbit and beyond. Highly energetic systems must be designed, manufactured, assembled, and operated often with low production rates, but with space flight vehicle requirements for maximum performance and minimal mass often results in very complex designs, production processes and tooling. Shelia Sharp, Boeing’s SLS Systems Engineering Product Team’s Senior Manager, will walk us through an overview of the Space Launch System vehicle, the manufacturing tooling and the integration effort necessary for the success of America’s 21st Century‘s launch vehicle. The Space Launch System will hold more payload and assert more thrust than any vehicle ever built.

The vehicle is comprised of the boosters, engines and payload, which in its initial configuration can push 70 metric tons into space. When it’s evolved to its full configuration, it can take 130 metric tons. To build such a massive technologically advanced machine, a knowledgeable prime contractor along with numerous suppliers are needed with a clear understanding of the mission. It requires state of the art engineering, tooling, and manufacturing processes on a massive scale to produce NASA’s next generation heavy lift vehicle. The vertical assembly center, that puts together the core stage and upper stage, is the assembly backbone of the space launch system. It is the world’s largest tool that will assemble the first and second stages of the world’s largest rocket. Boeing is building this Core Stage and Exploration Upper Stage for NASA to provide heavy lift capability to carry humans beyond-earth orbit which hasn’t been done since the Apollo program. We’re not just building a rocket, we’re making history.