KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (Oct. 25, 2026) — The next rocket meant to carry astronauts toward NASA's goal of a Moon landing is being assembled on Florida's Space Coast. At an Oct. 23 briefing at Kennedy Space Center, NASA leaders described the agency's path to returning Americans to the lunar surface in 2028 [1].

What Artemis III will do

Artemis III won't go to the Moon. NASA says the mission will launch in 2027 and send four astronauts into low Earth orbit for a planned 14-day test flight [2]. The crew is NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano [2].

They'll fly aboard the Orion spacecraft and practice working with test versions of lunar landers that Blue Origin and SpaceX are building [2]. NASA says the crew and flight controllers will rehearse rendezvous, docking, habitation and other procedures. Those will be needed when astronauts begin landing near the Moon's South Pole in 2028 [2].

NASA describes the sequence this way [2]:

  1. Blue Origin launches a test version of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander into a circular orbit about 273 miles above Earth. The lander can stay in orbit up to 30 days.
  2. NASA launches Orion on its SLS rocket from Kennedy days later, once the test lander is confirmed healthy.

NASA says Artemis IV will be "the first Artemis mission on the lunar surface" [1].

Progress in the Vehicle Assembly Building

The hardware is coming together inside Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building, according to NASA updates:

  • April 27: The SLS core stage arrived at Kennedy. It traveled about 900 miles by barge from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans [3].
  • Aug. 24: Technicians began installing the four RS-25 engines on the core stage [3].
  • Sept. 30: Engineers finished stacking the twin solid rocket boosters in High Bay 3 [4].

NASA says those boosters will provide more than 75% of the rocket's thrust at liftoff from Launch Pad 39B [4]. As of Oct. 13, NASA said all four engines were installed. Next, teams will add a systems tunnel along the core stage and join the stage to the boosters [4].

Coming up on the Space Coast

NASA plans to roll this partial "short stack" rocket to Pad 39B "in the coming months" for a tanking test, a practice run of loading propellant [4]. While the rocket is at the pad, the four astronauts will do a launch-day rehearsal and walk through the emergency exit route [4]. NASA also says the Artemis III crew visited Florida together in September, including stops at SpaceX and Blue Origin [4].

Why it matters to Florida

Kennedy is where Artemis rockets are put together and launched. The core stage, boosters and Orion are all being assembled or processed at the spaceport [3][4]. NASA's Artemis III mission page has the latest mission details [2].

Sources

  1. NASA, "NASA Shares Artemis Acceleration Plans for Moon Missions" (Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/10/23/nasa-shares-artemis-acceleration-plans-for-moon-missions/
  2. NASA, "NASA's Artemis III Mission to Test Future Moon Lander Operations" (Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/nasas-artemis-iii-mission-to-test-future-moon-lander-operations/
  3. NASA Artemis blog (core stage arrival, engine installation updates): https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/artemis/
  4. NASA, "NASA Completes Artemis III Booster Stacking, Shares Status Update" (Oct. 13, 2026): https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/10/13/nasa-completes-artemis-iii-booster-stacking-shares-status-update/

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