NASA says the SLS core stage and twin boosters, now joined at Kennedy Space Center, are part of the vehicle being prepared for Artemis III’s planned 2027 orbital demonstration, where astronauts are to practice docking operations before a future crewed lunar landing.
The mission is planned to last 14 days in low Earth orbit. NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas will fly aboard Orion with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano. The crew is to test rendezvous and docking with lander test vehicles from Blue Origin and SpaceX, according to NASA’s mission overview.
NASA’s planned 2028 crewed lunar landing is the Artemis IV mission. The agency added Artemis III’s orbital test to rehearse crew and lander operations before that landing; an earlier account of the docking plan described the revised mission sequence.
At Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the 212-foot Space Launch System core stage has been joined with its two solid rocket boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA said a purpose-built lifting beam carried the stage from High Bay 2 for installation beside the boosters in High Bay 3. NASA’s Oct. 13 update said all four RS-25 engines had been installed on the core stage and that the boosters provide more than 75% of the rocket’s total thrust at liftoff.
The stack must pass testing and checkouts before teams move it to Launch Pad 39B. There, the rehearsal will load liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the core stage as launch teams practice the countdown and check their timelines.
NASA’s image article, published Wednesday, Oct. 28, says integration took place that day. A caption on the same page dates a photograph showing the stage beside the booster motor segments to Sunday, Oct. 25. NASA has not explained the difference between those dates.
The pad tanking test is the next stated milestone. NASA has not announced when it will take place.
