Artemis III's core stage "flew over the hump": the SLS center stage lifted between its stacked boosters in the VAB
From the Space digest for Oct 26, 2026
What happened: NASASpaceflight relayed a post from Artemis III astronaut Randy "Komrade" Bresnik (~6:01 PM ET, October 26): the Artemis III Space Launch System core stage "left the surface of the earth (briefly)" as it flew over the hump via a giant crane in the Vehicle Assembly Building to be mated between the two already-assembled solid rocket boosters on the Mobile Launcher — with credit to the SLS, Exploration Ground Systems, and NASA Kennedy teams, closing "Go Artemis III!"
What's genuinely new: the core-stage-to-boosters mating physically under way — the next stacking milestone after both Artemis III boosters were fully stacked (September 30), the center booster segments were set on the Mobile Launcher (October 6), and Isaacman's October 18 read put core-stage integration next to form the "short stack" for a tanking test. The crane lift is that integration beginning inside the VAB, against the acknowledged schedule pressure and the summer-2027 Artemis III target.
Watch: the completed core-stage/booster mating, the year-end tanking test for the "short stack," and whether the summer-2027 Artemis III target holds.
Sources NASASpaceflight