Welding Wonder: NASA’s Vertical Assembly Center

NASA’s Rocket Welding Tool

The Vertical Assembly Center is part of a family of state-of-the-art tools designed to weld the core stage of Space Launch System, the largest rocket ever built. The tool will join domes, rings, and barrels to complete the tanks and dry structure assemblies. Engineers recently completed welding all the rings for the first flight of SLS using the Segmented Ring Tool. Ten barrels also have been welded for the SLS core stage using the Vertical Weld Center.