NASA has begun assembling the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send humans on a lunar landing mission in 2027.
The buildup has begun at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida with the shift of the SLS engine section and boat tail, which protects the engines during launch, from the Space Systems Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The VAB already contains the almost complete Artemis II SLS, which is set to launch in early 2026 and carry a crew on a ten-day mission around the Moon.
Artemis III, in 2027, is the landing mission, and planners are aiming for the lunar South Pole.
There are plenty of ifs and buts around the mission. Artemis III could be the final flight of the SLS, depending on what happens to NASA’s budget. In one proposal, the SLS program is canceled after the Artemis III mission. An amendment could, however, keep the program running for a few more missions.
Then there is the question of how the astronauts will get down to the lunar surface. The current plan involves a rendezvous with SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System, but the last three test flights of SpaceX’s Starship have not gone well, and the most recent rocket exploded before it even left Earth. Musk’s rocketeers, therefore, have their work cut out if they are going to meet NASA’s 2027 requirement.
No pressure on making a success of the upcoming Starship test flight.
The engine section of the SLS is currently lacking the former Space Shuttle Main Engines, which are due to be shipped from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in early 2026. The rest of the Artemis III SLS core stage is at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It includes the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt.
The SLS core stages for Artemis I and II were previously manufactured entirely at the Michoud facility before being transferred to NASA Kennedy for integration with the solid rocket boosters (SRBs), upper stage, and the Orion crew spacecraft. Some parts of the process were shifted to Kennedy to “streamline” the process and, according to NASA, “enable simultaneous production operations of two core stages.”
That is, unless Artemis III ends up using the final SLS – if cancellations and cuts bite. ®