Artemis III Confirmed to Fly With Structural Spacer Instead of ICPS — MSFC Begins Fabrication; Final ICPS Reserved for Artemis IV

NASA officially confirmed that the Artemis III SLS will not fly with the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage. Instead, the rocket will carry an inert structural spacer — a non-propulsive placeholder that mimics the physical dimensions, mass properties, and interface connection points of a standard upper stage, preserving the rocket's geometry without any propulsive capability. The decision redirects the third and only remaining ICPS to Artemis IV, the first crewed lunar landing targeting 2028. The structural spacer is being fabricated at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama: teams are machining barrel section material and upper and lower rings, with welding operations scheduled to follow. The configuration change reflects Artemis III's redefinition as a Low Earth Orbit rendezvous and docking test — targeting late 2027 — in which Orion will rendezvous with SpaceX's Starship HLS pathfinder and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk2 at approximately 460 km altitude to validate the Axiom AxEMU spacesuit, lander interfaces, and crew procedures without expending a precious ICPS. This is a significant programmatic confirmation: a flight-proven, single-remaining ICPS is too valuable to use on a non-propulsive LEO mission, and the spacer approach ensures SLS structural integrity while preserving deep-space propulsion assets for Artemis IV. Separately, the FAA's mishap investigation into the Booster 19 anomaly during IFT-12 (May 22) continues; SpaceX must receive FAA sign-off before proceeding with IFT-13. Artemis II crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — are on Day 44 post-splashdown at Johnson Space Center.