It is solely been a month since NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts splashed down within the Pacific Ocean to wrap up their 10-mission across the moon, and the house company is already readying the rocket for the following Artemis program check flight.
The primary stage of the Artemis 3 Area Launch System (SLS) rocket is now vertical inside NASA’s cavernous Car Meeting Constructing (VAB) on the Kennedy Area Heart (KSC) in Florida, the place it awaits integration with its engine part, NASA announced in an X post on Sunday (Could 10).
“Technicians at @nasakennedy have accomplished operations of lifting the biggest part of the core stage for NASA’s Artemis III SLS rocket into Excessive Bay 2,” the submit mentioned. As soon as the launch car’s 4 RS-25 engines are connected, the stage can be transferred to the VAB’s taller Excessive Bay 3, the place engineers will mate the remaining sections of SLS and the Orion spacecraft forward of a launch date at present focused for the latter half of subsequent 12 months.
The core stage of Artemis 3’s SLS rocket is 212 ft tall (65 meters) and homes the 4 foremost RS-25 engines used to launch it into house. When absolutely assembled with its higher stage, Orion spacecraft and twin strong rocket boosters, the SLS rocket will stand 322 ft tall (98 meters) and weigh 5.75 million kilos (2.6 million kilograms) when absolutely fueled.
NASA’s Artemis program goals to fly common astronaut missions to the moon starting in 2028, and ultimately construct a everlasting base on the lunar south pole by the early 2030s.
Artemis 2 launched to the moon on April 1, and flew NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, in addition to Canadian Area Company astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a lunar flyby. The mission additionally served as Orion’s first crewed spaceflight. Now that Orion has confirmed itself with astronauts onboard, its subsequent mission — Artemis 3 — will keep in Earth’s orbit on a check flight for Orion and one or each of NASA’s Artemis moon landers..
There’s nothing higher than seeing an SLS rocket stage vertical! 🏗️Technicians at @nasakennedy have accomplished operations of lifting the biggest part of the core stage for NASA’s Artemis III SLS rocket into Excessive Bay 2, the place it will likely be linked to the engine part.Study… pic.twitter.com/qCEtIS7lirMay 10, 2026
Artemis 3 was initially slated because the Artemis program’s first crewed lunar touchdown, however delays within the growth timelines for the landers chosen by NASA’s Human Touchdown System contracts, SpaceX‘s Starship car and Blue Origin‘s Blue Moon lander, prompted NASA to rethink the Artemis mission structure.
Now, to make sure the landers meet all of the {qualifications} wanted to securely ship astronauts to the lunar floor, the following Artemis mission will forgo a flight to the moon altogether. Artemis 3 astronauts will launch aboard Orion to Earth orbit, the place they may rendezvous with both or each Starship and Blue Moon to observe proximity and docking maneuvers. NASA has indicated that Artemis 3 will fly with whichever landers are prepared when it comes time to launch the mission.
If they will do this efficiently, and likewise display uncrewed lunar touchdowns, NASA plans to launch Artemis 4 in 2028 as this system’s first crewed moon touchdown. Starship is at present the lander contracted for that mission, however the readiness and efficiency of each landers throughout Artemis 3 may probably change that association if Blue Moon completes its qualification testing first.
It took a few 12 months for parts of the Artemis 2 SLS to reach and endure stacking contained in the VAB earlier than the rocket was absolutely assembled, although the identical progress for Artemis 3 can be depending on the manufacturing and testing standing of the car’s varied levels. If all goes in line with plan and at the very least one of many mission’s moon landers is prepared, NASA hopes to launch Artemis 3 someday in late 2027.
