Vehicle Assembly Building
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NASA
Artemis III Moon Rocket Core Stage on the Move
Teams move the core stage, or largest section, of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for NASA’s Artemis III mission into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in this photo from April 27, 2026. The SLS core stage traveled 900 miles on the Pegasus barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the stage is manufactured, to complete assembly of the massive rocket at NASA…
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NASA
Coverage, Briefing Set for NASA’s Artemis II Moon Rocket Roll to Pad
NASA’s integrated SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission is inching closer to launch – literally. The agency is targeting no earlier than 7 a.m. EST, Saturday, Jan. 17, to begin the multi-hour trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A pre rollout mission news conference,…
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NASA
Santa Visits Artemis II Rocket
Santa Claus (NASA engineer Guy Naylor) poses with NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft and SLS (Space Launch System) rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 11, 2025. The Orion spacecraft was stacked atop the SLS in October 2025. Set to launch in early 2026, the Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew…
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NASA
NASA Progresses Toward Artemis II Moon Mission
As 2026 nears, NASA continues moving forward to launching and flying Artemis II, the first crewed mission under the Artemis campaign, no later than April next year. NASA’s Orion spacecraft, complete with its launch abort system escape tower, is now integrated with the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in…
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NASA
Scrub Jay at the Vehicle Assembly Building
A scrub jay perches on a branch near the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 22, 2020. Kennedy shares space with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to more than 65 amphibian and reptile, 25 mammal, 117 fish, and 330 bird species. At the time this photo was taken, the NASA “meatball” logo –…
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NASA
50 Years Ago: Preparing the Final Saturn Rocket for Flight
With the historic first international space docking mission only six months away, preparations on the ground for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) intensified. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, workers in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) stacked the rocket for the mission, the final Saturn rocket assembled for flight. In the nearby Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB), the…
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NASA
Artemis II Core Stage Vertical Integration Begins at NASA Kennedy
NASA has taken a big step forward in how engineers will assemble and stack future SLS (Space Launch System) rockets for Artemis Moon missions inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The VAB’s High Bay 2 has been outfitted with new tooling to facilitate the vertical integration of the SLS core stage. That progress was…
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NASA
The Stanley Cup Comes to Kennedy
The Stanley Cup, won in 2024 by the Florida Panthers, made a visit to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 17, 2024, as part of its championship tour. The VAB currently houses components of the agency’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration…
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NASA
NASA, Boeing Optimizing Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay for Future SLS Stage Production
NASA is preparing space at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for upcoming assembly activities of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage for future Artemis missions, beginning with Artemis III. Teams are currently outfitting the assembly building’s High Bay 2 for future vertical assembly of the rocket stage that will help power NASA’s Artemis campaign to the Moon. During Apollo, High…
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