Orion crew and service modules joined

Orion's crew and service modules have been joined.

The milestone was announced on 2026-07-30.

Artemis III is listed with Kennedy Space Center as its launch site and low Earth orbit as its orbit.

The named crew is Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and Luca Parmitano.

Listed payloads include structural test articles for the Orion stage adapter and the launch vehicle stage adapter, as well as test articles tied to commercial human landing systems from Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Stacking of SLS solid rocket booster segments began, an RS-25 engine was delivered, and the spacer barrel section finished its eighth and final friction stir weld.

For Artemis III, a non-propulsive spacer takes the place of the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, and that stage has been reassigned to Artemis IV.

Crew module components from Artemis II's Orion spacecraft are being reused for Artemis III. More than 250 Orion spacecraft components from Artemis II are being reused for Artemis IV and Artemis V.

Hardware installation for Artemis III is earlier by about three months, and the Artemis IV schedule is accelerated by more than six months.

The payload list connects Artemis III to commercial human landing system work from Blue Origin and SpaceX, which is relevant for tracking lunar landing hardware development.

The reported reuse of Artemis II Orion components and the schedule shifts for Artemis III and Artemis IV provide concrete markers for assessing program hardware flow and mission preparation.