NASA reported on October 28 that the Artemis III Space Launch System (SLS) core stage had been joined with two solid rocket boosters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA said the next steps would be testing and checkouts, followed by a tanking test at Launch Pad 39B.
What NASA reports has been assembled
The SLS short stack consists of its 212-foot core stage and two solid rocket boosters. NASA’s October 26 photograph shows the orange core stage between two white booster sections inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
What happens before the tanking test
NASA said crews lifted the core stage from High Bay 2 with a purpose-designed lifting beam and positioned it on the mobile launcher in High Bay 3. Testing and checkouts were to precede the move to Launch Pad 39B. For the tanking test, NASA planned to load liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the core stage while launch teams rehearsed countdown procedures and timelines.
How the hardware reached Kennedy
La Nación reported that the first shipment of solid-booster segments arrived at Kennedy on April 13, 2026, and that the mobile launcher moved to the VAB on April 17. The core stage arrived at Kennedy on April 27 after a 1,448-kilometer trip from the Michoud facility in New Orleans, then moved into the VAB on April 28.
Artemis III is an orbital docking test
NASA describes Artemis III as an Orion rendezvous-and-docking demonstration with commercial spacecraft in low Earth orbit, ahead of future lunar landing missions. It is an orbital mission, not a lunar landing. For the earlier mission plan, see NeoTeo’s overview of the Artemis III orbital test.
