NASA delivery: ESA's Canopee powers past Port Canaveral with key Artemis III hardware

If you noticed a large white ship on Monday evening with the ESA (European Space Agency) logo printed on the side, alongside the words "Ariane 6 ONBOARD" − it was not a case of mistaken spaceport but nor was the European rocket onboard .

Inbound from Bremen, Germany, ESA's wind-powered cargo ship, known as Canopee, slowly creeped through Port Canaveral sporting its four towering masts. It's cargo: a special delivery for humanity's return to the moon with NASA's Artemis Program .

Headed for Kennedy Space Center, Canopee was ferrying over the Orion spacecraft service module − which is the bottom of the spacecraft that provides power− for Artemis III .

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"This departure represents a key step in ESA’s partnership with NASA, demonstrating Europe's commitment to advancing human exploration beyond Earth," read a statement on ESA's website.

More typically, the ESA ship, which uses both wind and fuel, transports an Ariane 6 rocket, which usually launches from French Guiana.

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Artemis III, set to launch no earlier than the second half of 2026, will see astronauts return to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. It will be the Orion spacecraft which carries the four chosen astronauts, who have yet to be revealed.

Orion is not solely a NASA product. ESA is contributing to the mission by developing the spacecraft's service module. Simply put, the service module of a spacecraft is the bottom part which provides power, life support systems, and thrust. As the name suggests, ESM-3 (European Service Module 3) is the third Orion service module engineered by ESA.

From Italy to the moon

More than 36,000 feet (approximately 6 miles) of wiring is packed inside this delicate spacecraft service module.

The main structure of ESM-3 began to take shape in Turin, Italy, at Thales Alenia Space. According to ESA, the complicated service module "supports 36,089.2 feet of wiring, 33 engines, four tanks of propellant and solar arrays that can generate enough electricity to power two households."

It's main engine is none other than one passed down from the space shuttle − with nine flights to boast. All of this hardware was packed inside the ESM-3 in Bremen, Germany, before it began the long journey by sea to KSC.

Over the next year at KSC, the service module will be connected to the Orion spacecraft and tested for the conditions of spaceflight. Then its next stop − lunar orbit − where two Artemis III astronauts plan to transfer to and take a SpaceX Starship lander down to the lunar surface.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars .

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA delivery: ESA's Canopee powers past Port Canaveral with key Artemis III hardware