The upper section of the rocket’s core stage, the largest component of the Space Launch System (SLS), departed the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans earlier this week, bound for Kennedy Space Center. Its arrival marks a significant milestone as the agency works towards launching Artemis III, the mission set to return astronauts to the moon in 2027.
Engineers used specialised transporters to move the massive structure – comprising the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks, intertank and forward skirt – onto NASA’s Pegasus barge for the journey to Florida. Once there, teams will complete final outfitting and integrate the stage vertically with the rest of the rocket ahead of launch.
NASA’s acting associate administrator for exploration systems development, Lori Glaze, said the rollout underscores the program’s momentum.
“Seeing this hardware on the move is a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come,” she said. “This is the backbone of Artemis III and it brings us closer to landing humans on the moon again – and ultimately preparing for missions to Mars.”
Standing 212 feet tall when complete, the core stage will hold more than 733,000 gallons of super-cooled propellant, feeding four RS-25 engines. During launch, it will burn for over eight minutes, generating more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft into orbit.
The project is a joint effort between major contractors, with Boeing leading the design and assembly of the core stage, and L3Harris Technologies producing the RS-25 engines. NASA said recent program changes aimed at standardising the SLS configuration and streamlining production will help accelerate progress across upcoming missions.
Artemis III will see astronauts launched into Earth orbit, where they will test critical rendezvous and docking procedures with commercial spacecraft capabilities needed for future lunar landings, including Artemis IV, currently slated for 2028.
NASA maintains that the SLS remains the only rocket capable of launching Orion, crew and cargo to the moon in a single mission.
The Artemis program forms a central pillar of NASA’s long-term exploration plans, with ambitions extending beyond the moon. The agency hopes to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface, unlock scientific and economic opportunities, and lay the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?Make Space Connect a preferred news source on Google.