NASA said in an image article published Sept. 1, 2026, that technicians at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida began installing four RS-25 engines on Aug. 24, 2026, in the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket intended to carry the Artemis III crew into low Earth orbit in 2027. The plan, as reported then, placed the mission in the following year.

The four engines assigned to Artemis III are E2054, E2057, E2048 and E2052. According to the agency, each carries a serial number recording its flight history, and all four previously powered multiple space shuttle missions.

NASA said engine 2048 helped launch astronaut Randy Bresnik's earlier mission aboard space shuttle Atlantis during STS-129. It also flew on Discovery during STS-95 in 1998, the mission that returned then-77-year-old U.S. Sen. John Glenn to orbit, making him the oldest person to fly in space at that time.