NASA has integrated the 212-foot Space Launch System core stage with Artemis III’s twin solid rocket booster motor segments inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.
The work, completed Oct. 28, finishes the rocket’s short-stack configuration. Technicians lifted the core stage from High Bay 2 using a one-of-a-kind lifting beam designed to place the stage onto the mobile launcher.
After testing and checkouts, NASA plans to roll the combined core-stage and booster stack to Launch Pad 39B. There, teams will conduct a tanking test that loads liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the core stage only, while launch personnel practice countdown procedures and timelines.
For Artemis III, NASA plans to launch astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, along with European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, aboard Orion atop the SLS rocket. The mission is intended to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft from Blue Origin and SpaceX ahead of future astronaut lunar-landing missions.
