CAPE CANAVERAL, USA, Oct. 15, 2026 - NASA is preparing to mate the Artemis III core stage to its twin solid rocket boosters, forming a short stack for a tanking test at Launch Pad 39B.^[1] Artemis III is targeted for no earlier than June 2027 and will stay in low Earth orbit to demonstrate docking with commercial lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin.^[2] It will carry four astronauts.^[3] NASA redesigned the mission earlier this year as a crewed flight in Earth orbit to rehearse docking the Orion spacecraft with those landers.^[4] NASA says the Artemis program aims to establish an enduring human presence on the Moon and lay the groundwork for the first crewed mission to Mars.^[5] Impact Insight. A tanking test fills a rocket's tanks with super-cold propellants on the pad to check for leaks and rehearse the countdown before a launch. The link to planetary defense is indirect: heavy-lift rockets and deep-space crew systems are the kind of capability that could one day support missions to study or deflect a hazardous asteroid.