This is as exciting a time for space exploration as weve seen in decades, says Robert Champion, director of NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans East.

More than 10 million people tuned in as NASA and SpaceX teamed up to launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, a Tulane University alum, to the International Space Station on May 30. It was the first time since 2011 that America sent astronauts into Earths orbit in its own spacecraft and from U.S. soil.

Simultaneously, companies including Elon Musks SpaceX, Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin are each working with NASA to open Earths orbit to adventurous tourists. (A 10-day trip to the International Space Station is $55 million.)

Perhaps most exciting, though, is what NASA is eyeing beyond Earths orbit.

NASA and its private partner companies, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, have been working for more than a decade on a program that will send astronauts back to the Moon and after that Mars. In 2019, they gave that program a name: Artemis named after the goddess of the Moon and the twin sister of Apollo.

Tens of thousands of employees around the country are working on realizing these missions, but few New Orleanians realize our city is playing an essential role in Americas return to outer space.

Robert Champion, director of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility stands in front of the Robotic Weld tool in BLDG 103.

When people think of NASA, they think of the (Lyndon B.) Johnson Space Center in Houston or the launches from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Champion says. But they dont realize we couldnt have gone to the Moon in the 1960s without New Orleans. We couldnt have constructed the International Space Station without New Orleans. And NASAs Artemis missions certainly wont be possible without New Orleans.

The first of those missions (Artemis I) is expected to launch late next year and will test an uncrewed spacecraft as it circles the Moon and returns to Earth. Artemis II will accomplish a similar objective with humans aboard, while Artemis III in 2024 will return man (and deliver the first woman) to the lunar surface in 50 years.

The structure of the spacecraft that will carry those astronauts on the days-long mission to the Moon (and eventually on the months-long trip to Mars) is built in New Orleans, as is nearly all of the enormous rocket the most powerful in history that will launch them from Earth.

The large majority of what youll see on launch day was built in New Orleans, Champion says.

Boeing senior production manager Amanda Gertjejansen

Boeing began designing rockets at MAF during the Apollo program in the 1960s. Today they are responsible for producing the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage, which at 212 feet is the tallest and most powerful rocket stage in the world.

A stage refers to a section of a rocket that has its own engines and propellant. Boeings extraordinary core stage will burn for the first eight minutes of each Artemis mission, propelling the spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center up to Earths orbit.

Amanda Gertjejansen is the Boeing senior production manager overseeing the assembly of that rocket. Born and raised in Gentilly, she has worked for Boeing at Michoud since 2013 in SLSs early days and long before the programs hardware production had begun.

Before we could build the rocket, we had to build the tools that would build that rocket, she says. Before we could build the tools, we had to rebuild sections of the facility to our specifications.

Gertjejansen says that facility is one of the main reasons New Orleans has figured so prominently in the exploration of space.

The Michoud Assembly Facility was built during World War II on the site of Antoine Michoud's sugar plantation and refinery.

The Michoud Assembly Facility is nearly 20 years older than NASA. It was constructed during World War II on the site of Antoine Michouds 19th-century sugar plantation and refinery, and two smokestacks from the era still stand on site today.

The factory was created to build planes during World War II, and then Patton and Sherman tanks during the Korean War. When the war ended in 1953, the federal government was left paying to maintain a massive-but-unused facility.

That changed when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, beginning the Space Race.

We were way behind the Russians and Dr. [Wernher] von Braun was looking for a place to build a big rocket to help us catch up, Champion says, referring to the first director of NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA was new and he encouraged the agency to take a look at Michoud.

NASA wanted to build a 363-foot Saturn V rocket but struggled to find a facility large enough to construct the rockets massive and complex core stage. That is, until they found Michoud.

MAF has 43 acres of environmentally controlled space under a single roof (the size of 31 football fields), making it one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world.

Our plant is a quarter-mile long, and we can take hardware from one end to the other on a crane without ever having to set it down, Champion says. There arent many other places that can handle the Saturn V or the SLS core stages, which is why NASA calls us Americas Rocket Factory.

This week, as the nation marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrins July 20, 1969 walk on the mo

The Apollo program ended in 1972, after landing 12 Americans on the moon. Next, NASA focused on the Space Shuttle program, which featured the first reusable rocket boosters and reusable crewed space vehicle.

A primary objective of the program was to build a permanent space station that would orbit Earth, now known as the International Space Station. Launching a vehicle with the ability to carry a substantial amount of building material (and return with other cargo) would require a powerful rocket, and only Americas Rocket Factory had that kind of capability.

During the nearly 40 years of the Space Shuttle program, Michoud built 135 tanks each 154-feet tall even larger than the core stage of Apollos Saturn V.

Thats another reason Michoud is so valuable.

You cant transport rockets this large on highways, says Byron Williams, a logistics engineering manager who graduated from Xavier University. He is responsible for the team that transports large equipment on NASAs Pegasus barge to NASA sites such as (John C.) Stennis Space Center for testing, or Kennedy for launches. One of MAFs biggest advantages is that it sits beside deep water.

Byron Willams,a logistics engineering manager at Michoud Assembly Facility

But this wasnt always the case.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Michoud land was owned by Col. Roch Eugene Edgar deMontluzin du Sauzay, a descendant of French aristocrats. Col. deMontluzin earned revenue from his property via various commercial endeavors, including granting permission to the federal government to build the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway through the southern portion of his property. The Intercoastal Waterway provides a faster route east than the Gulf of Mexico, and if deMontluzin hadnt allowed the use of his property, NASA likely wouldnt be using the site today.

The Space Shuttle program ultimately achieved the objective of building the space station, but not without devastating setbacks.

On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned through Earths atmosphere, killing the seven astronauts on board. NASA suspended Space Shuttle flights to investigate the disaster, and it was determined that, during liftoff, insulating foam fell from the external tank built at Michoud and caused damage to Columbias heat shield. MAF engineers were initially told their improper installation of the foam contributed to the failure.

That was a really tough time, says Jeffrey Pilet, a program management director for Lockheed Martin at MAF, originally from St. Bernard Parish. The program was halted, the investigation went on for a very long time, and seven astronauts were dead.

MAF worked through some difficult adjustments, and on July 26, 2005 almost two-and-a-half years after the Columbia disaster the Space Shuttle Discovery flew the Return to Flight mission. While this mission was a success, the external tank once again shed some of its foam. The program was again grounded for examination, but an additional challenge was on the way. One month after Discoverys launch, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

STS-135 team members in Firing Room 2 on L-0 day.

Robert Champion says against all odds thats when Michouds third major advantage shined through.

If the pumps at Michoud stopped working, we were going to lose the Space Shuttle program, he says, explaining that flooding would have destroyed the factory and crippled their ability to make external tanks. But instead of evacuating, 38 MAF employees stayed behind and kept the pump station operating.

Its not just that our workers have decades of experience building the worlds most powerful rockets, he says. They also believe in their work so deeply. They desperately want their mission to succeed.

Those women and men braved 130 mph winds, as well as waves that topped the 19-foot levee, to pump a total of more than one billion gallons of water out of the facility.

Their courage reminds us that not all of NASAs heroes fly in space, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said when he presented those MAF employees with the agencys Exceptional Bravery Medal.

Michoud reported that Katrina left 94% of their employees with damaged or destroyed homes, but workers pushed to make necessary improvements to the Space Shuttle program. (It was later discovered that the Discovery and Columbia foam loss was not a result of faulty installation, and an apology was issued to MAF workers.)

A lot of us didnt have homes to come back to and we were scattered all across the southeastern United States, Pilet says. It was such a painful time but the way we pushed through it was an incredible accomplishment for our team.

The Space Shuttle program returned to flight the following July 4.

It might be the proudest Ive ever been, says Matt Wallo from Lakeview, who is now a senior manager with Lockheed Martin at MAF. Working through all those issues and then watching that shuttle take off from Florida on the Fourth of July... that was special.

An artist's rendering of SLS Block 1 (core stage in orange) with the Orion spacecraft and Launch Abort System sitting atop it.

With the International Space Station fully operational, NASA ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011. However, unlike when the Apollo missions concluded, it was unclear what came next for Americas space industry.

We had been working on the Space Shuttle external tanks for three decades, Pilet says. For many at MAF, it was the only work they knew. Suddenly we go from playing a key role in several launches a year to turning off most of the lights in the building.

But Michoud wouldnt stay down for long. As NASA set its sights on the Moon and Mars, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to build the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Orion is a partially reusable space capsule that will sit atop the SLS rocket. After each stage of SLS fires and is discarded, its Orion that will carry astronauts through space.

I love that right here in New Orleans, were building this exploration-class vehicle that will take humanity farther than weve ever been in history, says Wallo, who now oversees Orion production at Michoud. New Orleanians are creating things that have never been done.

Pilet says he knew Michoud was back when preparation for SLS started in 2013.

Now we were going to have Boeing and the worlds most powerful rocket to go with our capsule. The lights came back on. Workers started filing back in. It was exciting.

I remember when we turned the lights on in those early days, Gertjejansen says. Youd have stray cats running all around the building because it hadnt been used in so long.

Since work on SLS began, Michouds capacity has continued to increase, and its partner companies have attracted talent from New Orleans and across the country.

Jennifer Boland-Masterson was working for Boeing in Washington state just over two years ago when she learned about the work going on at MAF. Today shes the director of Boeing operations at Michoud.

When Boeing gave me the opportunity to work here, I jumped at it, she says. You can tell people understand what theyre doing here is destined for history books. I wanted to be a part of that.

Today, Orion and SLS arent all thats going on at Michoud. Workers at MAF are also building the Launch Abort System that will better protect astronauts, as well as several other essential components to the Artemis mission. Michoud teams have perfected new techniques most recently around friction stir welding that will transform industry around the world.

The MAF campus has 24 tenants on site, from LM Wind Power to Hope Credit Union to Ochsner Health Center, employing thousands of New Orleanians.

NASA's Orion spacecraft

But 85% of the work done on site remains focused on outer space. The first Orion capsule is ready for its Artemis I mission, and the first SLS core stage was shipped earlier this year to the Stennis Space Center. There, its undergoing a series of tests at the same location the Saturn V rockets were tested before they sent the first men to the Moon.

The day our core stage left Michoud was one of the most satisfying days of my life, Boland-Masterson says. It was the culmination of so much work by so many people.

Shes referring to Jan. 8, when the largest component of the most powerful rocket in history made its way out of Americas Rocket Factory to the Pegasus barge.

Of course, in true New Orleans fashion, the rocket also got a second line, Gertjejansen says. We got to see off the first rocket in a decade, and LSU won a National Championship all in one week. It was a great time to be a Louisianan.

NASA recently announced that Lockheed Martin and Boeing have been awarded contracts for years more of production work on their respective Artemis components.

To meet the local demand for trained workers, Boeing has partnered with local higher education institutions like Nunez Community College to create an Aerospace Manufacturing program.

I thought Id have to leave New Orleans to get the job I wanted in a STEM field, Gertjejansen says. I didnt realize I could get the job of my dreams right here at home.

Artemis I is scheduled to take off from Kennedy Space Station late next year. Millions of viewers will tune in across America and across the world. Champion wants many of those viewers to be New Orleanians.

My hope is that as that rocket rises from Earth New Orleanians understand they are once again a part of history.

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