Michoud Assembly Facility
NASA's New Orleans manufacturing plant where SLS core stages are built and shipped by barge.
Last refreshed: 17 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Where does NASA build its Moon rocket and why does the factory matter so much?
Timeline for Michoud Assembly Facility
Artemis III core stage ships Monday
Artemis II Moon Mission- Where is the Space Launch System built?
- The SLS core stage is assembled at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, Louisiana, by Boeing. It is then shipped by the Pegasus barge to Kennedy Space Center.Source: briefing
- When does the Artemis III rocket leave Michoud?
- NASA announced the top four-fifths of the Artemis III SLS core stage was scheduled to roll from Michoud on 20 April 2026 for barge transport to KSC.Source: briefing
Background
The top four-fifths of the Artemis III SLS core stage rolled out of Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on or after Monday 20 April 2026, scheduled to load onto the Pegasus barge for transport to Kennedy Space Center. The component, assembled by Boeing, includes the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt. Core-stage engines, processed separately at Stennis Space Center, will ship to KSC by July 2026.
Michoud Assembly Facility is a 43-acre complex of manufacturing buildings near New Orleans, Louisiana, operated by NASA and leased to Boeing for SLS core stage production. It has a 900,000-square-foot high-bay assembly area and direct access to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway for barge loading. MAF was originally built to manufacture Saturn V first stages during the Apollo programme.
Michoud's single-facility status for SLS core stage production means its operations are on the critical path for every Artemis launch. Any labour dispute, hurricane damage, or production delay at MAF propagates directly to the KSC integration schedule and the launch date.
