Check out these photos NASA shared today. It’s almost time for the big lift! NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems crews at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are preparing to lift and add the 212-foot-tall core stage and its four RS-25 engines to the mobile launcher in between the twin solid rocket boosters.

The fully stacked twin solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are seen on top of the mobile launcher inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 9, 2021. Now that booster stacking is complete inside the VAB, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs are preparing to integrate the boosters with largest part of the SLS rocket, the massive 212-foot core stage, which arrived at Kennedy in April 2020.

The Space Launch System (SLS) core stage is seen in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 4, 2021. Teams with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs are preparing to lift the 188,000-pound core stage and place it on the mobile launcher in between the two solid rocket boosters in High Bay 3 of the VAB. The 188,000-pound core stage alone will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent, and coupled with the boosters, will provide more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to send the Artemis I mission to space. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I will test SLS and the Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.

An overhead view shows the fully stacked twin solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on top of the mobile launcher inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 9, 2021. Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs are making final preparations to integrate the boosters with the SLS core stage, which arrived at Kennedy in April 2020. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman, the twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust at launch.

The Space Launch System (SLS) core stage is seen in the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 9, 2021. Teams with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs are preparing to lift the 188,000-pound core stage, which is the largest part of the rocket, and place it on the mobile launcher in between the two solid rocket boosters in High Bay 3 of the VAB.

For more photos and video, go to https://go.nasa.gov/3xac1XG