NASA Artemis III Core Rocket Stage Pre-lift | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis III Core Rocket Stage Pre-lift | Kennedy Space Center

In these images, NASA's Artemis III Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage can be seen in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. The 212-foot rocket stage was successfully lifted from High Bay 2 using a one-of-a kind lifting beam designed to lift the stage and will be joined vertically with the completed solid rocket booster motor segments in its short stack configuration.

Progress continues at Kennedy Space Center, where teams have completed the integration of the final solid rocket booster motor segments onto the mobile launcher for the “short stack” configuration that will be used during a tanking test. Teams also completed installation of all four RS-25 engines on the SLS core stage.

Teams now will install the systems tunnel that runs the length of the core stage and is used to route pyrotechnic cabling, a system of wiring that allows the single-use, quick disconnect for controlled movements during liftoff, on the massive stage. In the coming weeks, the stage will be integrated with the solid rocket boosters, completing the rocket’s “short stack” configuration.

NASA will roll the short stack SLS rocket from the spaceport’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for a tanking test in the coming months, where the Artemis launch team will practice procedures and timelines for loading propellant. While at the pad, the Artemis III crew, NASA astronauts Randy Bresnick, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, also will conduct a launch day rehearsal and emergency exit walkdown. This will include suiting up in astronaut crew quarters, driving to the launch pad, ascending the mobile launcher, and then walking through the exit route they would take in the unlikely event of an emergency during launch countdown.

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 S. Huston
Date: Oct. 23, 2026

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