October 22, 2021.

Teams with Exploration Ground Systems successfully lifted the Orion Spacecraft for the Artemis I mission inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on October 20, 2021.

Teams attached the spacecraft to one of the five overhead cranes inside the building and began lifting it a little after midnight EDT.

Final stacking operations for NASA’s mega-Moon rocket underway inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as the Orion spacecraft is lifted onto the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis I mission.

Engineers and technicians with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and Jacobs attached the spacecraft to one of the five overhead cranes inside the building and began lifting it a little after midnight EDT on October 20, 2021.

Work continued to fully secure Orion to the Orion Stage Adapter of the Space Launch System rocket after teams initially placed the spacecraft on top of the rocket earlier in the day.

Artemis I Space Launch System rocket with Orion capsule stacked on top.

NASA teams across the country are preparing for the Artemis I launch to the Moon.

When NASA’s mighty Space Launch System rocket launches to the Moon from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, its four RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters will produce more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

NASA’s Space Launch System will be the most powerful rocket they’ve ever built.

October 20, 2021

October 19, 2021