NASA has installed the frangible joint assembly onto the launch vehicle stage adapter of the Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket to be used for the Artemis III lunar mission.
The frangible joint assembly sits atop the adapter, which connects the SLS core stage to the rest of the vehicle, including the Orion spacecraft that will house the crew, NASA said Monday.
During the mission, the assembly will work to break on command, allowing the upper stages of SLS to separate from the core and the launch vehicle stage adapter, a.k.a. LVSA.
The SLS LVSA is manufactured by lead contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering. In 2020, the Teledyne Technologies division received an $85 million NASA contract modification for the production of additional adapters.
The LVSA for Artemis III, however, is expected to be the last of its kind because future SLS configurations will require a different adapter.