Artemis III Core Stage Major Join Complete

Teams with Boeing – NASA’s Prime Contractor for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket – mate the forward and aft ends of the core stage for the agency’s Artemis III mission at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Jan. 8, 2026. This operation secures four of the five major components of the core stage in place: the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and the liquid hydrogen tanks. The final component – the engine section – was structurally completed in 2022 and shipped to Kennedy Space Center for final assembly and integration. Now joined, teams will continue integrating critical systems and perform various checks and tests to ensure the hardware is ready for shipment to Kennedy later this year. The core stage, along with its four RS-25 engines, produce more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker