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NEW ORLEANS — Boeing’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket cryogenic core stage has been successfully refurbished at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., and is now ready for delivery to NASA.

Closing out the Green Run campaign on the B-2 test stand following a flawless test fire, the core stage will make its way to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for launch of the Artemis I mission, the first moon mission in nearly 50 years.

SLS will launch NASA’s Artemis I mission that will send an uncrewed Orion crew vehicle around the moon and back. That test flight will be followed by Artemis II, the first crewed lunar fly-by for the Artemis program.

“We thank NASA for their partnership as we deliver the first of the Artemis core stages that will launch a new era of human deep space exploration,” said John Shannon, SLS vice president and program manager for Boeing.

“Boeing shares this achievement with the hundreds of companies and thousands of highly skilled workers who contribute to this program and form the backbone of this industry.”