Prime contractor Boeing rolled out the second Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage on July 16 from the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) and secured it to NASA’s Pegasus barge for transportation to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida over the next several days. The stage will control the beginning of the Artemis II mission that will send a four-person crew on an Orion spacecraft on a lunar flyby; the question now is when that mission will happen.
Launch of Artemis II was retargeted for September 2025 this past January, but NASA is still reviewing results from Artemis I and monitoring the progress of Artemis II Orion spacecraft assembly and test. An overall status review is currently planned for mid-September of this year to see if stacking of the SLS for Artemis II can begin.