Artemis III Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy, SLS Rocket Enters Final Assembly Phase
Summary: On April 20, 2026 (EST), NASA's SLS rocket Core Stage for the Artemis III mission was successfully transported in two stages from the Michoud Assembly Facility to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), followed by unloading and transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on April 27–28. This marks the full-scale start of rocket assembly for Artemis III, bringing the crewed lunar return into its final sprint.
Credit: NASA / Kennedy Space Center
The Artemis III Core Stage transport began on April 20, with NASA's Super Guppy transport aircraft carrying the complete rocket core in two stages from the Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana to KSC in Florida. On April 27, the core stage was unloaded outside the VAB, and over the following two days transferred into the assembly building via a special transporter, ready to begin integration with the intertank and engine avionics.
According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on April 27, both SpaceX's Starship lunar lander and Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander are not expected to be ready until the end of 2027 at the earliest, for orbital rendezvous and interoperability testing for the Artemis III mission. This means Artemis III's crewed lunar landing still faces scheduling pressures.
Artemis III will carry four astronauts to lunar orbit, where two astronauts will descend to the lunar south pole region aboard SpaceX's Starship or Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander for approximately one week of surface operations before returning to the Orion spacecraft.