Artemis III core stage assembly arrives at the Kennedy Space Center

Date:
Tue, 28 Apr 2026 10:15:25 +0000

Description:
Nearly one month after Artemis IIs historic launch with four astronauts
flying by the Moon, The post Artemis III core stage assembly arrives at the Kennedy Space Center appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Nearly one month after Artemis IIs historic launch with four astronauts
flying by the Moon, processing for the next Artemis flight is making progress in advance of its scheduled 2027 flight. The core stage assembly not including the engine section for Artemis III arrived at the turn basin at
the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, April 27.



The core stage assembly, which consists of the forward skirt, intertank, and liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks, was rolled out of the sprawling Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana one week earlier on Monday, April 20.

The stage, with some areas still needing foam application, left the facility for loading on the barge Pegasus and shipment to Florida.

The barge transporting Artemis IIIs core stage assembly was first built in 1999 to transport Space Shuttle external tanks from Michoud. Pegasus replaced two veteran barges, Poseidon and Orion , that were originally used to transport Saturn stages from Michoud during the Apollo program in the 1960s and 1970s. Barge Pegasus arrives with an SLS mockup core stage for testing in 2019. (Credit: NASA)

Pegasus continued to transport Shuttle external tanks until the program
ended in 2011 with the flight of STS-135, before being modified to support
the SLS program. The barge was stretched from 79 m to 94 m and strengthened
to handle the SLS core stage, which is 272,155 kg heavier than the Shuttles external tank.

Starting in 2021, Pegasus sailed the SLS core stages for Artemis I and II to the Kennedy Space Center, and now is supporting the Artemis III mission.
After a week-long voyage covering over 1,400 km from Louisiana to Florida,
the missions core stage assembly will be rolled out of Pegasus to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Tuesday, April 28.

When the core stage assembly is rolled into the VAB, it will be mated to the engine section and its four RS-25 engines. Artemis I and IIs core stages were transported with the engine section and engines already mated, but NASA changed this process to accelerate production times for the stages, to
improve manufacturing flow, and to clear space at Michoud for the
now-canceled Exploration Upper Stage. Artemis III core stage assembly rolling out of Michoud Assembly Facility on April 20, 2026. (Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker)

Artemis IIIs SLS engine section was manufactured at Michoud but shipped to Florida in July 2025. That section was mated with its boat-tail, which protects the engines from the heat and pressure of launch, at the Space Systems Processing Facility before moving to the VABs High Bay 2 for further work.

For all SLS flights from Artemis III onward, the RS-25 engines will be mated to the complex and intricate engine section at KSC. For this flight, the rocket will use the RS-25s E2048, E2052, E2054, and E2057, which were all flown on previous Space Shuttle missions.

Other elements of Artemis III are either at KSC or will be there in the
coming months. Some of the missions solid rocket booster (SRB) segments, starting with the aft skirt containing the nozzle, arrived at the space
center by train from Utah earlier this month. The SRB aft segments are also
at KSC now. The aft skirt segments of the SRBs for Artemis III arriving by rail at KSC. (Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux)

These segments will be assembled on Mobile Launcher 1 (ML1), which returned
to the VAB from Launch Complex 39B on April 17. This return was well ahead of Artemis Is post-launch timeline.

The Orion spacecraft for Artemis III is also at KSC. The conical Orion crew module was recently powered on and is undergoing functional tests, while the European-built service module is joined to the crew module adapter. Both elements are in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, awaiting the buildout of the rest of the Artemis III stack.

When these elements were under construction, the mission they were being made for was the first lunar landing mission of the Artemis program.

However, in February, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced that
Artemis III would become an Earth-orbiting mission that would test docking to one or both commercial HLS lunar landers as well as Axioms AxEMU lunar spacesuit, while Artemis IV would now become the first Artemis lunar landing. The Artemis III Orion crew module at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building in 2023. (Credit: NASA/Cory Huston)

The revised mission plan is reminiscent of the Apollo 9 mission, where a Saturn V launched into low-Earth orbit with the Apollo command and service module named Gumdrop and the lunar module named Spider. The mission conducted the first EVA of the Apollo program and tested out docking and rendezvous procedures with both Apollo spacecraft.

However, the mission plan for Artemis III is still in work, with its launch date and availability of HLS landers and AxEMU spacesuit for the testing
phase in question. It is also not known whether the third and final ICPS second stage will be used on Artemis III or replaced with an inert adapter. Rendering of the flight design of the AxEMU lunar spacesuit. (Credit: Axiom Space)

The crew for the mission has not yet been named, though it likely will be in the coming months. The timing of the crew announcement, along with the
initial stacking of the boosters, could be a clue as to when NASA believes
the mission is reasonably expected to fly.

Most of the major hardware elements for Artemis III are now at KSC, while hardware for the Artemis IV and V lunar landing missions is still in work at Michoud and elsewhere. Preparations at NASAs KSC facilities, Blue Origin, Starbase, and elsewhere will determine when Artemis III flies and how much risk the flight can mitigate for upcoming missions.

(Lead image: The barge Pegasus arrives at the Kennedy Space Center turn
basin on April 27, 2026. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux).



The post Artemis III core stage assembly arrives at the Kennedy Space Center appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/04/artemis-iii-cs-assembly-arrives-ksc/


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