SLS Artemis V -- CS-5 progress

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"Artemis V is also planned to be the first mission to fly on the annual cadence which has been a long-term goal for NASA’s Exploration divisions and directorate. Even with the uncertainty about the Artemis IV schedule, continuing production of Artemis V could at least keep some of those options open for longer.

“We’ve ordered long lead for [core stages] five and six, we’ve actually welded our first CS-5 ring in the past couple of weeks,” Burroughs said. “There’s discussion now of engine section and intertank thrust structure, so that’s probably the next activity.”

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/12/final-assembly-sls-core/

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https://images.nasa.gov/details/MAF_20241218_CS5_ESliftVWC03

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility move the engine section of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket for Artemis V on December 18, 2024, at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, LA. Throughout 2024, new tooling was erected in bldg. 115 for the upcoming iterations of the Space Launch System (SLS), Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), and the test articles required to develop and assemble each efficiently and effectively. This barrel is the sixty-fourth produced for the Space Launch System program since its inception and is the first barrel weld completed for the core stage of the Artemis V mission. This engine section will be used on the evolved Block 1B configuration of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. It is one of the first components that will make up a portion of the core stage that will power NASA’s Artemis V mission. According to a Boeing engineer, as of this barrel, the VWC has now completed 515 production welds, with friction-stir welding a cumulative distance of 111,568 inches. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

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https://images.nasa.gov/details/MAF_20250210_CS5_LH2_Barrel_out_VWC-01

This image shows NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility move crew lifting a completed liquid hydrogen tank barrel off the Vertical Weld Center on Feb. 10. The barrel, which will be used on the core stage of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, is one of the first pieces of flight hardware manufactured for the agency’s Artemis V mission. The 22-foot-tall barrel section is one of five barrels, which – along with two end domes – make up the 130.8-foot-tall liquid hydrogen fuel tank. The SLS core stage liquid hydrogen tank holds 537,000 gallons of super-cooled propellant and is one of five unique elements that make up the SLS core stage.