Photos of the Day: The SLS Core Stage Booster Finally Begins Official Launch Preparations for Artemis 1...

NASA / Cory Huston

Earlier today, engineers inside the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida finally used two giant cranes to place the Space Launch System's (SLS) core stage booster for Artemis 1 into vertical position. This milestone came after a couple of days spent by KSC workers to prepare ground support equipment inside the VAB for this much-anticipated lift...which will culminate with the SLS core stage being mated to its twin solid rocket boosters by tomorrow, and these three vehicle components being bolted together by this Sunday, June 13.

Here are photos showing the delicate process to raise the 212-foot-tall SLS booster into its final vertical launch position. The entire vehicle should complete stacking—with NASA's Orion spacecraft placed at the top of this giant rocket—by August. Artemis 1 is scheduled to take place as early as November 4...but could take flight as late as March of next year.


NASA / Frank Michaux


NASA / Frank Michaux


NASA / Frank Michaux


NASA / Cory Huston


NASA / Cory Huston


NASA / Cory Huston


NASA / Cory Huston