Artemis III SLS Core Stage mated, but uncertainty continues about mission plans and dates

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:01]Hey everyone, welcome back. Thanks for your time. Please like and subscribe if you find these videos informative.

[00:00:07]We're still seeing highlights from the Artemis 2 mission a month ago. One of the noteworthy things we saw this past week was this sequence of stills of Earth taken by the flight crew as they sped away in Orion from home.

[00:00:20]I originally saw Hank Green talk about it, and I'll put links to that and the original Redditor who compiled it.

[00:00:27]One of the things I was struck by watching this loop of images was a contrast to the famous Apollo 17 shot called the Big Blue Marble.

[00:00:35]This is 20th century Earth, and Artemis 2 showed us what we look like today from the point of view of four people who were leaving for a few days, the first people to leave Earth in almost 55 years.

[00:00:47]It's another reminder that we're still collectively processing what just happened. At the same time, I am here on this channel keeping a focus on the Artemis lunar landing goals and the challenges for the rest of 2026 and the rest of the decade.

[00:01:01]According to NASA's new plan, the next astronauts to leave Earth and see a view like this would be the ones to make the first lunar landing on Artemis 4. But, there are many issues that NASA and its commercial partners have to figure out in a hurry if Artemis 4 is going to stay on the new schedule, which would mean Artemis 4 is already complete in less than 2 years.

[00:01:22]In this video, I'll recap the latest Artemis 3 milestones and the continuing uncertainties.

[00:01:28]The last SLS hardware to finish is now at the Kennedy Space Center for Boeing to finish it.

[00:01:33]NASA has the general idea that Artemis 3 would be an Earth orbit mission, but hasn't made some big choices or hasn't announced them.

[00:01:40]I'll go through a hint about one of those choices, but I'll start with the final assembly of the Artemis 3 SLS core stage.

[00:01:49]One of the points of emphasis from the new NASA leadership is not a gradual increase in launch tempo, but establishing an annual cadence of launches now, that was directed at the government-owned and operated programs, SLS and Orion, which need to increase their production and delivery cadence if there's going to be an increase in launch cadence, even if the launch cadence depends on other factors like the commercial lunar landers.

[00:02:14]As I've noted since I started this channel, a lack of SLS rockets has limited what Artemis missions can be flown in this decade.

[00:02:22]For SLS, the focus is on production and delivery of the liquid hydrogen liquid oxygen stages that Boeing assembles at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

[00:02:32]The new push to ramp up SLS core stage hardware deliveries was front of mind when I traveled to New Orleans to see the rollout of the top 4/5 subassembly of core stage 3.

[00:02:43]That hardware for the third core stage build was already on its pace and path before the change in NASA leadership.

[00:02:49]So, what will be important is delivery of the next two builds, which are the last ones that Congress has currently authorized.

[00:02:56]In addition to seeing the stage roll out and the ceremony by Boeing and NASA to mark the occasion, equally as important to me was to try and get a status update on the fourth and fifth builds.

[00:03:08]Over the next 2 weeks, NASA delivered the large subassembly to Kennedy Space Center, and Boeing completed the final major join with the engine section in the Vehicle Assembly Building as faster schedules accelerated again.

[00:03:21]The new schedule for 2027 and 2028 leaves very little time to finish the core stage and build the fifth one. Even with a new delay for Artemis 3 and years-old questions about whether NASA ever finish the contract for the Artemis 5 stage.

[00:03:40]This was the first opportunity for me to visit Michoud in almost 2 years. The last time I've been there was on July 16th, 2024, when the fully assembled core for Artemis 2 was rolled out.

[00:03:52]Core stage 2 was the last build that Boeing plans to finish in New Orleans.

[00:03:57]Well before they finished it in December 2022, Boeing announced they were expanding production and final assembly to facilities at the Kennedy Space Center.

[00:04:07]Simultaneously, the engine section for Core Stage 3 was barged to Florida.

[00:04:12]The unit was shipped only as a completed structure with much more than half the work needed to complete it moved to KSC.

[00:04:20]Originally, Boeing began engine section outfitting or integration in the Space Systems Processing Facility in the KSC industrial area.

[00:04:28]But then in the middle of last year, they relocated that work on the engine sections for Core Stage 3 and 4 to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

[00:04:37]Soon, Boeing plans for all engine section integration and Core Stage final assembly to be in High Bay 2 of the VAB.

[00:04:45]The Core Stage Vertical Integration Center was activated in late 2024, and Core Stage 3 will be the first unit completed there.

[00:04:54]That final assembly sequence began on April 20th with the rollout of the rest of the stage, the top 4/5 as it's called because it consists of the other four of five major elements, the forward skirt, liquid oxygen tank, inner tank, and liquid hydrogen tank.

[00:05:10]On rollout day, that large subassembly looked a lot like a full stage even without the engine section.

[00:05:17]However, what the engine section doesn't have in size it makes up for in complexity.

[00:05:22]Once again, as in mid-July 2024, I arrived at MAF before daybreak and we were allowed into the tarmac area to observe the rollout.

[00:05:31]We were given about an hour to ask questions of subject matter experts for about 5 to 10 minutes each.

[00:05:38]I spoke with Boeing SLS and NASA SLS leadership about rollout, transportation, and completion of Core Stage 3, and manufacturing and assembly of the next two units.

[00:05:50]Before that time was up, the Boeing move team started backing the stage out of building 110.

[00:05:55]In contrast to the previous rollout, this time the top four fifths hung around a little longer, so we could get a good look at it.

[00:06:03]Last time the move team was trying to finish in front of summer thunderstorms and didn't have much time to pose the stage.

[00:06:10]This time we got at least a chance to pretend to be paparazzi.

[00:06:14]The move team spent some time debugging one of the self-propelled modular transporters, and they rolled in the fifth spare unit just in case.

[00:06:22]While that was going on, we got a little bit more time to take pictures and capture video before they began rolling the stage out of the tarmac area.

[00:06:30]But NASA public affairs gave us the chance to get back in front of the stage so we could get some additional imagery.

[00:06:37]We were able to get that as the move team turned the transportation carriers holding the flight hardware left onto Venus Drive, and then they left us behind and kept going down to the Saturn Boulevard intersection, where they made a right turn, which took the stage down to the dock where NASA's Pegasus barge was waiting.

[00:06:59]The Artemis 2 mission had wrapped up only a week and a half before, so it was also fresh on everyone's minds.

[00:07:07]And something else that was fresh on everyone's minds was the recent cancellation of the exploration upper stage.

[00:07:13]There were reminders that NASA had just canceled the stage, stopped work on it in the past few weeks, and it was exiled from the new narrative.

[00:07:22]Pieces of exploration upper stage structural test article and first flight hardware were seen in welding tools and integration centers on the factory floor.

[00:07:30]The new policy to cancel EUS was of course an executive decision, and for the most part NASA and Boeing people did not talk about the stage, the program, or its cancellation during the event.

[00:07:42]Before EUS work was completely frozen by NASA a few months ago, Boeing had been orchestrating assembly and test of both stages for Artemis 4 with assembly of the Artemis 3 core stage.

[00:07:54]And reached this milestone largely while still working on both.

[00:07:59]After production issues in 2023 and 2024, Boeing reached multiple core stage 3 milestones in 2025.

[00:08:08]The foam application facility for the two propellant tanks cell N was reactivated at the beginning of 2025, enabling the thermal protection system insulation to be sprayed on their exterior.

[00:08:20]The LH2 tank foam sprays were completed first, followed by the LOX tank mid-year.

[00:08:26]That allowed them to be prepped for three final assembly joins. The forward and aft joins were made in October and December, and then those two were mated together to form this top 4/5 subassembly in early January of this year.

[00:08:40]By that time, Jared Isaacman had just been sworn in as the new NASA administrator and the urgency of completing the build increased with the announcement of the new plan for Artemis 3, 4, and 5 in late February.

[00:08:52]It wasn't just the work in New Orleans last year. In the summer, Boeing began their hardware moves at Kennedy Space Center to consolidate work in VAB High Bay 2.

[00:09:02]The engine section had to be temporarily detached from the boat tail assembly and then reattached in the VAB transfer aisle.

[00:09:10]It was then subsequently loaded into the core stage vertical integration center tool in High Bay 2.

[00:09:16]A few weeks later in August, the core stage 4 engine section was also transported to the VAB.

[00:09:22]There had been delays to engine section integration for core stage 3, and at the time of the hardware moves at the end of July, NASA released a statement saying the standalone outfitting and functional testing would be complete this spring when the top 4/5 would be shipped from MAF KSC to complete the final major join. And that's what we observed beginning on April 20th.

[00:09:46]With the major core stage three hardware literally exiting the building a couple of hours before, the team in New Orleans at that point was now focusing on core stage four and five.

[00:09:56]The new NASA plan began a race to the end of the current presidential term.

[00:10:01]Boeing has to deliver three core stages in two years.

[00:10:05]Greg Eldridge, who is NASA's SLS Resident Office Manager at Michoud, ran through the current status of the elements for me before the rollout and then conducted a guided tour of us media folks afterwards.

[00:10:17]Boeing SLS Integrated Product Team Senior Manager Jordan Falgout and Boeing Exploration Systems Vice President John Shannon also provided some context about current plans.

[00:10:29]Big picture, Boeing needs to finish outfitting the core stage four structures and is at the beginning of the core stage five build.

[00:10:37]For core stage four, they were getting ready to perform the last major weld to complete the liquid oxygen tank.

[00:10:44]The other four structures are already complete.

[00:10:47]The two dry structures at MAF, the forward skirt and inner tank, were both staged to move into their foam spray booths on the other end of the main building 103 factory floor.

[00:10:57]The LH2 tank had all of its major welds completed last November. All the plug welds are now done and it was being prepared for its pneumatic proof test.

[00:11:07]We saw the LH2 tank in area six of building 103, but I could not get permission to take a picture of it.

[00:11:14]However, this video from one of the social media attendees did get a shot.

[00:11:19]I'll put a link to that video in the description.

[00:11:23]After the final LOX tank weld is complete, it will line up behind the LH2 tank for a similar sequence of production phases.

[00:11:32]First plug welds, then proof testing.

[00:11:35]There are also non-destructive evaluations of the welds pre- and post-proof test.

[00:11:41]Then the tanks will be prepared for the large acreage sprays of primer and then spray-on foam insulation.

[00:11:48]The other large piece of stage hardware for the core stage four build is the boat tail.

[00:11:53]That structure is fully assembled and we could see that some of the thermal protection cork for that element had been installed.

[00:12:00]Mr. Eldridge said that work was wrapping up.

[00:12:03]Eventually that piece will need to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center to be mated to the bottom of the engine section.

[00:12:10]While engine section integration continues at Kennedy Space Center, the four elements at MAF will need to be outfitted and joined together in not much more than the next year's time.

[00:12:20]So that this stage could support an early 2028 launch.

[00:12:25]Relatively soon Boeing is also going to have to finish clearing some of the EUS work out of the shared assembly tools at MAF.

[00:12:32]As an example, the EUS structural test article LH2 tank was in cell D, which is one of the stacking cells that will be needed to process the two core stage four tanks.

[00:12:43]A few modifications will also need to be made to the core stage forward skirt with the exile of EUS.

[00:12:51]That means that the avionics like the flight computers and redundant inertial navigation unit or RINU will have to fly at the top of the core stage again.

[00:12:59]Rather than up on the EUS equipment shelf.

[00:13:02]The RINU is actually mounted on the forward dome of the locks tank, which is at the same general height, at least when the stage is vertical.

[00:13:12]By most measures, core stage five production is just beginning and that would have to be completed in two years or less for a late 2028 Artemis five launch.

[00:13:22]Boeing has a lot of the structural hardware on site at MAF, but they are just starting to assemble those five major elements.

[00:13:30]The engine section barrel was welded a while ago near the end of 2024.

[00:13:35]It still has one more weld, the barrel to L ring weld at the top.

[00:13:40]Assembly of the bolted thrust structure is underway, although that hardware and the assembly jig were covered up with a tarp for export control protections.

[00:13:50]The recent ignition event had an image of the inner tank barrel panels for core stage five, which we saw but weren't able to take pictures of.

[00:13:58]Those panels are still waiting to be loaded into the structural assembly jig, but that is the next step.

[00:14:04]The thrust beam goes in first, followed by the eight barrel panels.

[00:14:09]The inner tank is an all bolted structure.

[00:14:12]The other element in structural assembly at this point was the LH2 tank.

[00:14:17]Three of the five barrels had been welded at the time of the visit, and the panels for the fourth barrel were staged in building 115, adjacent to the vertical weld center barrel welding tool.

[00:14:28]Mr. Eldridge also said that Boeing was preparing to begin welding the elements of the domes.

[00:14:35]But that leaves a lot of work for Boeing to do in parallel.

[00:14:39]While some of the team finishes outfitting and joining the four core stage four elements at MAF, others will be assembling the structures for core stage five.

[00:14:49]A group of social media was also invited to Michoud on April 20th, and they were given an opportunity that we were not, which was a visit to the nearby Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

[00:15:00]They were shown the L3 Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne facilities at Stennis, but more relevant is that they were shown Artemis 3, 4, and 5 RS-25 engine hardware.

[00:15:11]Since we weren't invited, we didn't get to ask about current status or upcoming milestones.

[00:15:17]Unfortunately, not getting that opportunity is not an isolated incident.

[00:15:24]While we went home, the core stage three top four fifths was transported on the Pegasus barge from New Orleans around the Florida peninsula to the Space Coast, arriving at Port Canaveral on the morning of April 27th.

[00:15:38]Pegasus reached the KSC turn basin later in the afternoon and was docked there overnight before the flight hardware was offloaded the next morning on April 28th.

[00:15:52]The stage hardware was rolled into the southern low bay entrance to the VAB transfer aisle and the SPMTs lowered the transportation carriers onto skid beams that were located adjacent to VAB high bay two, where the flight hardware would eventually be going.

[00:16:10]On April 28th, Boeing published a video of animation that helped visualize their near-term plans for SLS core stage production in VAB high bay two.

[00:16:20]That was released with their update article about the arrival of the top four fifths of core stage three.

[00:16:27]As noted earlier, the large core stage vertical integration center tool entered service at the end of 2024 and with the latest milestones now has the full core stage three installed for completion of final assembly and delivery later this year.

[00:16:43]The animation was created prior to the final major joint of core stage three and previewed upcoming moves to begin using the expanded infrastructure inside the high bay footprint.

[00:16:54]The new facilities are an environmental enclosure for standalone engine section integration/outfitting and a simpler storage cell for a completed core stage unit.

[00:17:06]The SSPF where Boeing originally moved the core stage three and core stage four engine section units maintained one of the levels of clean room environmental standards, which allowed work like orbital tube welding to be conducted without needing to set up and break down smaller scale temp enclosures.

[00:17:24]That meant that when large equipment lifts into the engine section were needed, they could occur in parallel.

[00:17:31]The new facility would in theory allow that to happen in VAB High Bay 2.

[00:17:36]The animation shows how Boeing envisions the production flow there.

[00:17:40]When core stage 3 is completed, it would be lifted out of the CSVI see on the south wall of the high bay and moved to the new storage cell on the north wall.

[00:17:51]The storage cell only includes a lower level platform where the engine section can be supported via the quad pod attached points bolted into the structure. And then there would be another platform around the forward skirt level to support the stage there.

[00:18:07]In storage, there wouldn't be as much servicing and maintenance that could be conducted, but presumably the cell allows the standard purge just to be maintained inside the different internal volumes of the stage.

[00:18:19]In reality, if NASA and EGS are ready to stack the stage with the Artemis 3 SLS boosters when Boeing completes it, they might skip the step of moving it into the storage cell.

[00:18:30]However, clearing the integration center tool will allow that to be prepared for final assembly of the next unit, core stage 4.

[00:18:38]That would begin with basically the same sequence of steps seen last summer with the core stage 3 engine section.

[00:18:44]The boat tail for core stage 4 will need to be transported from MAF to KSC beforehand, but then the animation shows that being set up in the same type of tool.

[00:18:55]The engine section is then lifted on top and the boat tail is mated to the bottom of the barrel.

[00:19:01]That mated assembly would then be lifted up and into the vertical integration center tool as the core stage 3 unit was last summer.

[00:19:10]The rest of integration and standalone sub-assembly functional testing of the engine section would resume in the tool in preparation for receiving the core stage four top four fists and then proceeding into final assembly of that full stage unit.

[00:19:25]After the core stage four engine section was lifted out of the environmental enclosure, the facility would then in theory be open for the core stage five engine section structure when that is completed at MAF and shipped to Kennedy Space Center.

[00:19:40]The animation also a basic preview of the work in the VAB after the top four fists for the Artemis 3 core stage arrived last week.

[00:19:49]A lift spider was attached to the forward skirt and then two of the cranes in the VAB were attached.

[00:19:56]The 325-ton crane that services high bay two and used to service high bay one, but no longer, was attached to the lift spider and the 175-ton transfer aisle crane was attached to the engine section adapter.

[00:20:10]Those then lifted the stage off of the transportation carriers and rotated it from horizontal to vertical so that it was suspended from the 325-ton crane.

[00:20:21]The trailing 175-ton crane was disconnected from the engine section adapter and then the top four fists was lowered close to the floor of the transfer aisle so that the LH2 tank could be unbolted from the engine section adapter.

[00:20:35]Once that unbolting was complete, then the top four fists could be lifted up into high bay two and then lowered down into the core stage vertical integration center and finally onto the real engine section where those flanges could be permanently mated to complete the final structural join of the stage.

[00:20:53]That's the beginning of the work to fully integrate the functional elements of the stage.

[00:20:58]The systems tunnel, liquid oxygen feed lines, and repressurization lines will be fully connected on the outside and on the inside the four individual liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen feed lines to the RS-25 engines will be bolted together.

[00:21:12]A little later in the spring or summer, when the integrated stage is ready, the four RS-25 engines will be shipped to KSC and installed in the engine section to get ready for final integrated functional testing.

[00:21:25]In parallel with that, Boeing will be working to finish thermal protection system applications like cork and a coat of paint on the engine section boat tail and foam sprays on most other areas.

[00:21:39]The first public indication that work on the final major joint was complete was on the morning of Wednesday, May 6th, when the engine section adapter was seen outside the VAB.

[00:21:50]These screenshots from NSF NASA Space Flight's Space Coast Live showed the structure installed vertically on one transportation stand.

[00:22:00]That was eventually loaded onto the Pegasus barge, but not until another ground support equipment transportation stand went on first. One that was used in August and September 2024 to transport the Artemis 2 SLS launch vehicle stage adapter to KSC.

[00:22:17]After one KMAG transporter rolled the LVSA stand on the barge and dropped it off, the KMAG with the engine section and stand then rolled over from the VAB.

[00:22:28]We could deduce from seeing the engine section adapter demated from the top four fists that all the work shown in the animation was already complete. The breakover of the top four fists from horizontal to vertical, the unbolting of the adapter, the lift of the flight hardware into the CSVIC, and the mating of the top four fists of core stage three with the real engine section.

[00:22:52]The next day, May 7th, NASA published a few still images and time-lapse video of work done over the previous weekend and into this week.

[00:23:01]The time-lapse shows a narrow part of the operations covered in the animation, basically lifting the top four fists up and into high bay two.

[00:23:10]It differs from the animation.

[00:23:13]That shows the engine section adapter being detached on the floor of the transfer aisle.

[00:23:18]However, the whole assembly was lifted into high bay two, so it was actually detached on the floor in there.

[00:23:25]One of the stills published, which was taken on Monday, May 4th, shows a blurred engine section adapter in the foreground on the floor of high bay two with the core stage elements stacked in the vertical integration center.

[00:23:37]These photos show the lift spider still attached to the top of the forward skirt, so hard mate between the LH2 tank and the engine section may still have been in work.

[00:23:47]In addition to the large ground support equipment and transportation stands loaded onto Pegasus after the core stage mate was completed, a couple of the overland self-propelled modular transporters, or SPMTs, were also put on the barge.

[00:24:02]They will be needed to carry the GSE from the dock back inside the factory in New Orleans.

[00:24:08]Pegasus depart the KSC turn basin after daybreak on Thursday, May 7th, headed back to Michoud.

[00:24:14]The stage transportation carriers and other SPMTs are staying behind in the VAB because they will be needed at some point later this year to prepare the completed core stage three for stacking with the Artemis 3 SLS boosters.

[00:24:29]The full set of SPMTs will be needed for that, so the two headed back on the barge will find alternate transportation back to KSC.

[00:24:40]While Boeing was making that final Artemis 3 SLS core stage join, NASA also released a request for information for an alternate communication systems to fly on the Artemis 3 Orion.

[00:24:52]The headline, so to speak, from the RFI are the ground rules and assumptions, which specify that the mission would fly in a circular Earth orbit of about 250 nautical miles, which converts to approximately 463 km.

[00:25:05]The orbit would be inclined 33° to the equator.

[00:25:09]Some of the online information has indicated that Artemis 3 would be a low Earth orbit mission, but in the last month NASA leadership had said that discussions and planning about the details of the mission were just getting started, including whether it would be in a low Earth orbit or a high Earth orbit.

[00:25:25]The RFI was quietly, if not robotically, published and also includes the assumption of a summer 2027 time frame for the mission.

[00:25:34]That was released a week after NASA administrator Jared Isaacman had testified that Artemis 3 was now in late 2027.

[00:25:42]NASA wants the capability to download live 4K imagery during rendezvous and docking operations and large data files during the other phases of flight, independently of its primary S-band communication systems for operational data.

[00:25:55]The release notes that the mission profile is being finalized and given no accompanying announcement or clarification from NASA, it's not clear whether LEO is a firm choice or whether the Moon to Mars program office is leaning that way at the moment.

[00:26:10]Or it was at the moment this RFI was loaded into the system.

[00:26:14]These details about a 250 nautical mile circular Earth orbit and the 33° inclination lead to a couple of obvious questions.

[00:26:22]First, that other big question for Artemis 3 and 4, what SLS upper stages will NASA choose for those?

[00:26:29]Either fly ICPS on Artemis 3 and then Centaur 5 on Artemis 4, or fly a spacer on Artemis 3 and then ICPS on Artemis 4.

[00:26:39]The question is whether that choice has been made or not. It definitely has not been publicly announced.

[00:26:46]The other question stems from last week's announcement of a delay to Artemis 3 to late 2027.

[00:26:52]Does that delay change any choice or lean into low Earth orbit or a spacer instead of ICPS?

[00:26:59]If the delay forces NASA to reconsider low Earth orbit, it may also mean this alternate comm system would need to be reconsidered.

[00:27:08]If not, the RFI talks about two possible implementations. Either unpressurized externally mounted gear that would go on the Orion crew module adapter or pressurized gear that would fly inside the Orion crew compartment.

[00:27:21]One of the factors at play there is that access to the CMA would be restricted several months earlier than inside the crew cabin.

[00:27:29]At the end of the final assembly of the spacecraft, the solar arrays will be installed on the European service module and then the overall service module will be encapsulated for launch.

[00:27:40]At that point, there would be no access to those areas of the spacecraft, which would be several months before access was restricted to the Orion crew cabin.

[00:27:49]So, an external system would need to be ready to install several months before an internal system.

[00:27:55]Speaking of the Orion solar arrays, Airbus, European Space Agency, and Lockheed Martin installed the four wings onto the Artemis 3 service module last week ahead of the final major standalone test for the element, the direct field acoustic test or DFAT.

[00:28:10]The four solar array wings will only be installed for the time being to take part in the test and then be removed until final assembly of the spacecraft is almost complete.

[00:28:20]These pictures of that work to temp install the arrays were taken on April 30th in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC.

[00:28:28]Typically, the large speakers for this acoustic test are set up on one end of the industrial operations zone where Lockheed Martin assembles and tests Orions before they are delivered to NASA for launch preps.

[00:28:40]The crew module will also be acoustically tested in the next few months after its heat shield is mated, which is the next crew module milestone that we're looking for.

[00:28:49]After both of them complete their D fat, they will be prepared to be mated, which NASA was forecasting in the summer.

[00:28:57]In other news and notes, NASA KSC public affairs also published a few images of the Artemis 2 Orion crew module in the multi-payload processing facility after its post flight return.

[00:29:08]These images were taken last week after it was removed from its shipping container inside the MPPF. Also showing NASA Orion program manager Howard Hu taking a look at the spacecraft and its heat shield.

[00:29:20]The spacecraft is in the de-servicing area of the MPPF, where any residual commodities will be removed, including toxic fluids like hydrazine.

[00:29:29]There was no Artemis HLS news, but we're anticipating the next launches from the two HLS providers, which would have indirect implications for the lunar landing systems they are developing.

[00:29:40]The SpaceX lunar lander is a variant of the Starship system, and they are in final preparations of a new design iteration and a new launch pad at Starbase on the Texas-Mexico border.

[00:29:51]Launch of the first version 3 vehicle could be in the next couple of weeks with the FAA showing a possible launch as soon as May 15th.

[00:30:00]NASA awarded Starship the first two lunar landings, but delays in readiness caused the space agency last year to reopen the competition for the first one.

[00:30:09]Blue Origin's concept for a first lunar landing on Artemis 4 is still a secret, but it will depend on their new Glenn launch vehicle.

[00:30:17]We are waiting to see when the fourth launch occurs after second stage issues with the previous one resulted in loss of the payload.

[00:30:25]The first Mark 1 lunar cargo lander is scheduled to launch on a new Glenn later this year.

[00:30:30]The launch systems are foundational elements of the lunar lander architectures. Both providers are notoriously tight with information, but we would presumably find out what the next step is after they finish the current one.

[00:30:44]Thanks as always for watching. Like and subscribe if you find these videos informative and want to find out every week what happens next after Artemis 2.

[00:30:53]As usual, a big thanks to the members of this YouTube channel who are helping keep weekly Artemis coverage possible.

[00:31:00]There's more frequent videos, live streams, and updates if you're interested in joining.

[00:31:05]If you're willing to make a one-time donation to support what I do, I would really appreciate it. I put a link to my buy me a coffee page in the description.

[00:31:13]Thanks again and I'll see you next time.