A structural test version of the intertank for NASA's new deep-space rocket

A structural test version of the intertank for NASA's new deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, arrives at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, aboard the barge Pegasus. The intertank is the second piece of structural hardware for the massive SLS core stage built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans delivered to Marshall for testing. The structural test article will undergo critical testing as engineers push, pull and bend the hardware with millions of pounds of force to ensure it can withstand the forces of launch and ascent.

The test hardware is structurally identical to the flight version of the intertank that will connect the core stage's two colossal propellant tanks, serve as the upper-connection point for the two solid rocket boosters and house critical avionics and electronics.