CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The New Orleans-constructed main component of the rocket that will send next year's Artemis III to space has arrived at Cape Canaveral's Kennedy Space Center. 

The core stage of the rocket, constructed at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, arrived in Florida on Monday.

The 212-foot-tall piece of the Artemis missions' rocket's Space Launch System arrived via barge, with the core stage being brought into the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building on Tuesday as preparations continue for the next stage in a new wave of lunar missions. 

The rocket is expected to be completed and ready for launch as early as spring 2027. The Artemis III mission is designed to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between the Orion capsule and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the moon. 

Artemis IV, set for early 2028, will see astronauts landing on the moon for the first time since 1972.