{"id":621989,"date":"2026-04-22T22:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621989\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:31:12","slug":"artemis-iii-rocket-core-and-mobile-launcher-progress-toward-2027-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621989\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis III rocket core and mobile launcher progress toward 2027 test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hardware for NASA\u2019s Artemis III mission is officially on the move. While engineers prepare the rocket and launch structures, NASA has also changed the mission\u2019s flight plan<\/a> to test critical systems in Earth orbit before returning to the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Work on the Artemis III launch vehicle is advancing this month. On April 20, NASA rolled out the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 64.6 metres (212-foot) core, which holds the rocket\u2019s main fuel tanks and four RS-25 engines, was loaded onto the Pegasus barge. It is now traveling to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final assembly.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the mobile launcher used for the successful Artemis II<\/a> launch is back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The 115.8 metres (380-foot) structure completed its 6.44 kilometres (four-mile) trip from Launch Pad 39B on April 17. Teams are currently inspecting the launcher and fixing damage from the Artemis II liftoff. Once repairs are complete, the structure will be ready to stack the Artemis III rocket.<\/p>\n

A new flight plan for Artemis III<\/p>\n

While the hardware gets ready for a 2027 launch, the mission profile has changed. Artemis III will no longer land astronauts on the Moon. Instead, it will serve as a test flight in low Earth orbit (LEO). The return to the lunar surface is now scheduled for Artemis IV in 2028.<\/p>\n

During the Artemis III mission, the crew will fly the Orion spacecraft and test docking with one or both of the commercial lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. Astronauts will also test new spacesuits and check the life support systems while the spacecraft are connected in orbit.<\/p>\n

Testing these steps in LEO is designed to make the actual lunar landing safer.<\/p>\n

\"NASA\u2019s<\/p>\n

\t\tNASA\u2019s mobile launcher enters the Vehicle Assembly Building following its approximately 4-mile trek from Launch Complex 39B at the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, April 17, 2026, in preparation for Artemis III stacking operations. Teams will perform checkouts, inspections, and data analysis, and make repairs to the tower that saw damage during launch of NASA\u2019s Artemis II test flight on April 1, 2026.\u202f Credit: NASA\/Kim Shiflett<\/p>\n

The \u201cIgnition\u201d strategy<\/p>\n

This mission update is part of a broader NASA strategy called \u201cIgnition<\/a>,\u201d which aims to begin building a permanent Moon base by 2030. To meet this timeline, NASA leaders decided to stop changing the SLS rocket\u2019s design between missions.<\/p>\n

By keeping a standard \u201cBlock 1\u201d rocket design, NASA hopes to lower production risks and launch more often.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter successful completion of the Artemis I flight test, the upcoming Artemis II flight test, and the new, more robust test approach to Artemis III, it is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,\u201d said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. \u201cThere is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ignition plan relies heavily on commercial partners. It includes a new $6 billion cargo program and contracts to deliver lunar rovers to the Moon\u2019s South Pole by 2028.<\/p>\n

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noted that standardizing the hardware is key to staying ahead of global competitors. \u201cStandardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again,\u201d Isaacman said.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hardware for NASA\u2019s Artemis III mission is officially on the move. While engineers prepare the rocket and launch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[233373,109154,5338,58760,49,48,307,66,1062],"class_list":{"0":"post-621989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-artemis-3-video","9":"tag-artemis-iii","10":"tag-artemis-iv","11":"tag-artemis-program","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-nasa","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}