NASA Artemis III Orion Crew and Service Models Joined | Kennedy Space Center
Technicians joined the Artemis III Orion crew and service modules together on July 30, 2026, inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The crew module will carry and sustain NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, and Frank Rubio, and the European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, while the service module will power and propel Orion during the mission to test rendezvous and docking capabilities with test versions, or test articles, of commercial human landing systems from Blue Origin and SpaceX.
With the crew and service modules integrated, the team will soon power up the combined spacecraft for the first time. After power on tests are complete, the team will continue integrated testing of Orion and complete final hardware installations.
NASA will launch the Artemis III SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft alongside its commercial partners to demonstrate critical systems needed for future lunar landings, beginning with Artemis IV in 2028.
Planned to launch in 2027, the Artemis III Mission will practice docking the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit.
On future missions, including Artemis IV in 2028, landers will bring astronauts to the lunar surface. While Artemis III will not land on the Moon, it will test the complex capabilities NASA needs to return—this time to stay.
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