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NASA starts Artemis III SLS assembly before Artemis II flies
NASA has begun assembling the SLS rocket for Artemis III at Kennedy while Artemis II is still ahead, with Orion and the core stage also moving forward.
Image: ITzine
NASA has already moved on to assembling the Space Launch System rocket for Artemis III, the next step in its lunar program. At Kennedy Space Center, teams have started mating elements of the solid rocket boosters, while work also continues on the core stage and preparations for Orion.
That keeps Artemis on a rare US lunar track. Artemis I in 2022 tested SLS and Orion without a crew, while Artemis II is set to send astronauts on a lunar flyby trajectory as the program’s first crewed mission. Once that mission is complete, NASA is not pausing assembly and is moving straight into the next launcher.
The program remains one of the most expensive and complex efforts in global spaceflight. According to NASA, Artemis spending by the end of the decade runs into the tens of billions of dollars, and the schedule has already slipped several times because of work on the spacecraft, heat shield, and ground infrastructure. At the same time, China is pursuing its own lunar program with a crewed landing target before 2030, while SpaceX is developing a Starship-based lunar lander for NASA.
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In the VAB, crews have begun installing the first segments of the left solid rocket booster. The remaining parts arrived in June and are now being inspected, processed, and coated with protective layers before they are lifted onto the mobile launcher.
The core stage is also close to ready. In May, engineers joined the main tank to the engine section, and in June the first two RS-25 engines were delivered. Once the other two arrive, they will be installed and the full rocket integration process will continue.
Orion is progressing too. In a neighboring building, installation of the crewed spacecraft’s heat shield has been completed. The shield is made up of 186 Avcoat blocks and was refined after analysis of Artemis I so the material performs more evenly across the surface. The service module has separately completed acoustic testing designed to simulate launch loads.
NASA now needs to bring together the crew and service modules, then put the combined spacecraft through prelaunch rehearsals. If the schedule holds, Artemis III will be a major test before the next phase of the program, where technologies for a Moon landing are already being prepared for Artemis IV, planned for 2028.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via ITzine
