SLS update provided

NEW ORLEANS -- NASA provided businesses an update on the Space Launch System during a seminar at Michoud Assembly Facility last week. It drew about 150 people -- 90 businesses from 10 states and the District of Columbia. The core stage of the 70-ton SLS, designed to carry astronauts into deep space, will be built at Michoud by Boeing. The engines that will power two stages will be tested at Stennis Space Center, about 40 miles away in Mississippi. An unmanned test of SLS is scheduled for 2017. (Sources: New Orleans Times Picayune, 10/24/12, Baton Rouge Advocate, 10/28/12) Previous