Miami.- The core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket arrived in Florida this Tuesday as part of the preparations for Artemis III, the NASA mission scheduled for 2027 and designed to test maneuvers in Earth orbit and lay the groundwork for the manned lunar landing that the agency plans for 2028.
Following the success of Artemis II, which at the beginning of the month sent the first manned mission in more than fifty years to lunar orbit, in a 10-day mission, NASA moved this Tuesday the enormous structure that will use Artemis III to the interior of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), at the Kennedy Space Center.
With a height of about 64 meters, the central stage will be assembled and prepared for integration with the rest of the rocket.
The American space agency also announced that on April 13th, the first shipment of segments of the solid rocket boosters arrived, manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah.
The Rocket for NASA’s Artemis III Mission
Transported by train through eight states, these components will be part of the two booster rockets that will provide more than 75% of the thrust during takeoff.
The segments are being processed at specialized facilities at the space center, where they will be inspected before final assembly. A second delivery is scheduled for this summer.
Fotografía cedida por la NASA que muestra los segmentos inferiores de los propulsores del cohete del Sistema de Lanzamiento Espacial (SLS) para la misión Artemis III este martes, en el Centro Espacial Kennedy, en Florida (EE.UU.). EFE/ Glenn Benson
Artemis III will launch astronauts into Earth orbit aboard Orion on the SLS to test the possibilities of rendezvous and docking with commercial spacecraft, essential for future missions such as Artemis IV, which aims to take astronauts to the Moon in 2028.
What’s next?
The NASA also reported the arrival at the Kennedy Space Center of the capsule in which the Artemis II astronauts -Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen- splashed down on April 10th off the coast of San Diego, California.
In the space center, technicians will begin the dismantling operations, which include the removal of payloads from the crew module, the extraction of reusable electronic equipment, and the collection of data to analyze the performance of the spacecraft.
Fotografía cedida por la NASA que muestra la llegada de la nave espacial Orion de la misión Artemis II a la Instalación de Procesamiento de Múltiples Cargas Útiles este martes, en el Centro Espacial Kennedy, en Florida (EE.UU.). EFE/ Glenn Benson/ NASA
The heat shield will also be disassembled for detailed study and remaining risks, such as excess propellant, will be eliminated.
