Technicians integrate the left forward booster segment for NASA’s Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) rocket onto the left booster segments atop the mobile launcher in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. The SLS rocket’s twin boosters, each made up of five segments manufactured by Northrop Grumman in Utah, will provide more than 75 percent of the rocket’s total thrust at launch. The Artemis III mission will launch crew in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the Moon.