Key piece of Artemis III mission arrives at Kennedy Space Center
April 28, 2026 at 4:51 PM EDT
A key piece of NASA’s next Artemis moon mission has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of a potential launch next year.
The majority of the core stage of NASA’s SLS rocket – which holds liquid fuel and flight control systems – departed its assembly facility in New Orleans last week. It arrived at KSC by barge on Monday. It was offloaded and transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
There, it will join other pieces of the Artemis III launch vehicle, like the two solid rocket boosters and the four RS-25 engines. The entire rocket and the Orion spacecraft will get put together on top of NASA’s Mobile Launcher, which moves the SLS rocket to and from the launch site.
“Coming off the heels of Artemis II’s successful mission and everything we wanted to do, and having [the core state] here, it shows that we're picking up the cadence,” said Elkin Norena, manager of the management residents office for the SLS program at Kennedy Space Center. “Artemis is full steam ahead.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman directed the agency to speed up its Artemis program, with a planned lunar landing in 2028. That will come during the Artemis IV mission.
The upcoming Artemis III mission – and the core stage that is now at KSC – will not travel to the moon. Instead, it will stay in Earth orbit to demonstrate the rendezvous and docking ability of the Orion spacecraft with one or both of the spacecraft that will eventually take humans to the lunar surface. Commercial companies SpaceX and Blue Origin are designing separate spacecraft, called the Human Landing Systems, that will take astronauts from the moon’s orbit to the surface.
SpaceX’s Starship (left) and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon (right) are under development for NASA to take astronauts to the lunar surface starting with the Artemis IV mission. (1024x576, AR: 1.7777777777777777)
NASA completed a key testflight of the Orion spacecraft earlier this month. Artemis II took a crew of four around the moon and back – the first time Orion carried human passengers.
The lessons learned from the previous Artemis missions are helping speed up assembly – and are expected to help NASA meet Isaacman’s increased launch cadence.
“This time around, I think what we've learned will be more efficient to get the [Artemis III mission] off and in a shorter timeline,” said Norena.
Artemis III is planned to launch sometime in 2027. NASA has not yet named the crew of that mission.
The majority of the core stage of NASA’s SLS rocket – which holds liquid fuel and flight control systems – departed its assembly facility in New Orleans last week. It arrived at KSC by barge on Monday. It was offloaded and transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
There, it will join other pieces of the Artemis III launch vehicle, like the two solid rocket boosters and the four RS-25 engines. The entire rocket and the Orion spacecraft will get put together on top of NASA’s Mobile Launcher, which moves the SLS rocket to and from the launch site.
“Coming off the heels of Artemis II’s successful mission and everything we wanted to do, and having [the core state] here, it shows that we're picking up the cadence,” said Elkin Norena, manager of the management residents office for the SLS program at Kennedy Space Center. “Artemis is full steam ahead.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman directed the agency to speed up its Artemis program, with a planned lunar landing in 2028. That will come during the Artemis IV mission.
The upcoming Artemis III mission – and the core stage that is now at KSC – will not travel to the moon. Instead, it will stay in Earth orbit to demonstrate the rendezvous and docking ability of the Orion spacecraft with one or both of the spacecraft that will eventually take humans to the lunar surface. Commercial companies SpaceX and Blue Origin are designing separate spacecraft, called the Human Landing Systems, that will take astronauts from the moon’s orbit to the surface.
SpaceX’s Starship (left) and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon (right) are under development for NASA to take astronauts to the lunar surface starting with the Artemis IV mission. (1024x576, AR: 1.7777777777777777)
NASA completed a key testflight of the Orion spacecraft earlier this month. Artemis II took a crew of four around the moon and back – the first time Orion carried human passengers.
The lessons learned from the previous Artemis missions are helping speed up assembly – and are expected to help NASA meet Isaacman’s increased launch cadence.
“This time around, I think what we've learned will be more efficient to get the [Artemis III mission] off and in a shorter timeline,” said Norena.
Artemis III is planned to launch sometime in 2027. NASA has not yet named the crew of that mission.