NASA’s Artemis 3 rocket is taking shape for 2027 launch to test lunar landers (photo). It’s only been a month since NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean to wrap up their 10-mission around the moon, and the space agency is already readying the rocket for the next Artemis program test flight.
The first stage of the Artemis 3 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is now vertical inside NASA’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where it awaits integration with its engine section. Technicians at @nasakennedy have completed operations of lifting the largest section of the core stage for NASA’s Artemis III SLS rocket into High Bay 2, where it will be connected to the engine section. Once the launch vehicle’s four RS-25 engines are attached, the stage will be transferred to the VAB’s taller High Bay 3, where engineers will mate the remaining sections of SLS and the Orion spacecraft ahead of a launch date currently targeted for the latter half of next year.
The core stage of Artemis 3’s SLS rocket is 212 feet tall (65 meters) and houses the four main RS-25 engines used to launch it into space. When fully assembled with its upper stage, Orion spacecraft and twin solid rocket boosters, the SLS rocket will stand 322 feet tall (98 meters) and weigh 5.75 million pounds (2.6 million kilograms) when fully fueled. NASA’s Artemis program aims to fly regular astronaut missions to the moon beginning in 2028, with a permanent base at the lunar south pole by early 2030.
Artemis 2 launched to the moon on April 1 (https://www.space.com/artemis/launches) aboard the crewed lunar orbit, with astronauts Reid Wiseman (https://www.space.com/nasa-astronaut-reid-wiseman), Victor Glover (https://www.space.com/victor-glover), and Christina Koch (https://www.space.com/christina-koch) as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (https://www.space.com/artemis-2-moon-astronaut-canada-jeremy-hansen) on a lunar flyby. This mission also served as Orion’s first crewed spaceflight. Now that Orion has proven itself with astronauts onboard, its next mission — Artemis 3 (https://www.space.com/artemis-3-moon-landing-mission) — will stay in Earth’s orbit on a test flight for Orion and one or both of NASA’s Artemis moon landers.
If they can do that successfully, and also demonstrate uncrewed lunar touchdowns, NASA plans to launch Artemis 4 in 2028 as the program’s first crewed moon landing. Starship is currently the lander contracted for that mission, but the readiness and performance of both landers during Artemis 3 could potentially change that arrangement if Blue Moon completes its qualification testing first. If all goes according to plan and at least one of the mission’s moon landers is ready, NASA hopes to launch Artemis 3 sometime in late 2027.
Josh Dinner is Space.com’s Spaceflight Staff Writer. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh covers the evolution of NASA’s commercial spaceflight partnerships and crewed missions from the Space Coast, NASA science missions, and more. He also enjoys building 1:144-scale model rockets and spacecraft. Find some of Josh’s launch photography on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/joshdinner/) and follow him on X (https://twitter.com/JoshDinner) where he mostly posts in haiku.
