Artemis III SLS Core Stage Weather Cover Arrival at KSC

NASA’s Pegasus barge carrying a weather cover for the Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage arrives Sunday, June 21, 2026, at the Launch Complex 39 turn basin at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The cover will protect the stage’s thermal systems while SLS sits atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B in its short stack configuration. NASA will send four Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.