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NASA prepares to roll Artemis II moon rocket to launch pad
NASA is preparing to take a major step toward its next crewed mission to the moon as the Artemis II rocket is set to roll out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
MERRIT ISLAND, Fla. - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing for its first crewed Artemis mission to the moon.
NASA will start with a rocket rollout – which involves moving an 11-millon point stack four miles, the agency said.
What we know:
The rocket rollout should start Saturday morning, Jan. 17, at 7 a.m. It could take up to 12 hours to reach Launch Pad 39B because the crawler travels less than one mile per hour to ensure the stack stays safe.
The entire stack weighs 11 million pounds.
It’s a 4-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad.
"We’ll be at a cruising speed of just under one mile per hour. It’ll be a little slower around the turns and up the hill," Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis L:aunch Director, said during a Jan. 16 press conference.
Once it reaches the pad, crews will hook up all the systems. There will be a wet dress rehearsal and numerous infrastructure checks before the crew lifts off. Engineers can roll the rocket back to the VAB if they find new issues or need to do more work on any of the systems.
NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket is seen inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building as teams await the arrival of Artemis II crewmembers to board their Orion spacecraft on top of the rocket as part of the Artemis II countdown demonstra …
When is the launch?
The earliest launch window for Artemis II is Feb. 6, 2026, according to NASA.
NASA will send four astronauts in the Artemis II for a mission around Earth's moon. The crew will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center and will travel aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft.
The astronauts' mission is for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build a foundation for the astronauts, NASA said. The mission will also test Orion's capabilities in deep space, including its critical life support systems.
When asked if NASA was aiming for the beginning or end of its window for a launch date, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis II Launch Director, said wet dress – a full-scale practice run – is the driver in that.
Discussing crew safety, John Honeycutt, Artemis Mission Management Team Chair, said, "We're gonna fly when we're ready. From launch to the mission days, the crew's safety is going to be our number one priority."
Here are the other possible launch dates:
- Feb. 7
- Feb. 8
- Feb. 10
- Feb. 11
- March 6
- March 7
- March 8
- March 9
- March 11
- April 1
- April 3
- April 4
- April 5
- April 6
- April 30
What is Artemis II mission?
The crew will travel approximately 4,700 miles beyond the moon’s surface in a 10-day mission.
"Artemis II is a test flight. It truly is exploration," NASA Chief Exploration Scientist Jacob Bleacher said. "There will be a number of firsts that we'll be proving out on this flight."
"Depending on when the mission launches and when the final path, it's possible they'll see parts of the moon that's never been viewed by human eyes," Bleacher later said.
NASA hosted a press conference with the Artemis II team to discuss the mission's overview. Watch the press conference.
The backstory:
NASA previously conducted a non-crewed mission – using Artemis I in 2022 – by sending an empty Orion capsule to circle the moon after blasting off on NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Although the launch and lunar laps went well, the capsule returned with an excessively charred and eroded bottom heat shield, damaged from the heat of reentry.
Dig deeper:
Artemis II’s launch has been delayed multiple times. Those delays have pushed the third Artemis mission — a moon landing by two other astronauts — to at least 2027.
From left to right, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman stand outside before boarding their Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Sp …
Who's in the crew?
The Artemis II astronauts are NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
"They're all ready to get on the rocket and get on with the mission," Artemis II Lead Flight Director Jeff Radigan said.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).