Opinion: New Orleans Leads the World in Space Travel – Biz New Orleans

This past Tuesday, NASA rolled the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage of the Artemis II out of its manufacturing facility in New Orleans East. The rollout is a key milestone on the path to NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon under the Artemis campaign, and leads the agency’s quest to take on deep-space missions, including the journey to Mars. Artemis II is the first lunar mission since 1972 and will bring the first woman and African American astronauts to the Moon.

The SLS rocket’s core stage is the largest NASA has ever produced – and the largest ever produced by anyone in history – measuring 212 feet tall and consisting of two massive propellant tanks and four RS-25 engines. During launch and flight, the stage will operate for just over eight minutes, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to propel four astronauts inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft toward the Moon.

Dating back to the Apollo mission in the 1960’s, New Orleans’ NASA facility has played an essential role in developing spacecraft to extend mankind’s reach. Today, it is a main driver of our regional economy, employing over 4,000 people in the Greater New Orleans area, including key tenants like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Vivaci. Looking ahead to future missions, construction for Artemis III, IV, and V is underway at Michoud and will continue through 2028. Last year, the facility broke ground on Propel Park, a 50-acre industrial site on the Michoud Campus, offering an opportunity for NASA vendors to provide supply chain support.

Here at GNO, Inc., our GNO RAAMP (Greater New Orleans Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing Partnership) program partners with NASA, its vendors, higher education institutions, and training providers, to create curricula to train our residents for jobs that power the lunar economy and support the continued growth of NASA Michoud’s operations. 

If you want to go into orbit, you have to go through New Orleans! 🚀

Michael Hecht is president and CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., an economic development organization that promotes business interests in the 10-parish region of southeast Louisiana.