NASA Artemis III Rocket Booster Stacking | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis III Rocket Booster Stacking | Kennedy Space Center

Technicians can be seen here integrating the booster segments for NASA’s Artemis III Space Launch System (SLS) rocket atop the mobile launcher in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SLS rocket’s twin boosters, each made up of five segments manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, will provide more than 75 percent of the rocket’s total thrust at launch. The Artemis III Mission will launch crew in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the Moon.

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.

Learn more about NASA’s Artemis program:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

Image Credit: NASA/Cory Huston//Frank Michaux
Image Dates: Sept. 11 & 17, 2026 

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