Artemis IV LOX tank moves into VAB for Hyrdrostatic proof Test in Cell F

Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move a liquid oxygen tank from the main rocket factory into the adjacent vertical assembly building. The liquid oxygen tank, which will form part of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for NASA’s Artemis IV mission to the Moon, is rotated from a horizontal to a vertical configuration and loaded into the high bay’s hydrostatic proof testing cell. This non-destructive evaluation method tests the structural integrity of the tank’s welds by filling the tank with water, simulating the propellant used during launch. The propellant tank will hold more than 196,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid oxygen at launch and is one of five major elements that make up the 212-foot-tall SLS rocket stage. The core stage, along with its four RS-25 engines at its base, produces more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis.