Dual KSC Hardware Milestone: Artemis III SLS Core Stage Enters VAB; Artemis II Orion Returns for Post-Flight Study

April 28 marked a historic dual milestone at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The top four-fifths of the SLS core stage for Artemis III — comprising the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt, standing 212 feet tall — was offloaded from the Pegasus barge (which had arrived April 27 from Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, traveling 900 miles) and maneuvered inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. The core stage will be placed horizontally in the VAB transfer aisle before being hoisted into High Bay 2 to join its engine section and boat-tail integrated in August 2025. Simultaneously, the Artemis II Orion crew module arrived at KSC's Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) after its cross-country journey from San Diego — where it splashed down on April 10 — completing a full 18-day transit. Technicians immediately began de-servicing: removing crew payloads, extracting reusable avionics boxes, and offloading excess propellant. The formal 30-day heat shield inspection, including Marshall Space Flight Center X-ray scans and Avcoat sample extractions, is now entering its final week at the MPPF. Results expected around May 10 will determine the Artemis IV 2028 crewed lunar landing timeline. Artemis III targets a 2027 Earth-orbit Orion-HLS docking demonstration.