Artemis II: NASA Rolls Moon Rocket Toward Launch Pad
Artemis II: NASA Rolls Moon Rocket Toward Launch Pad
NASA moves the Space Launch System and Orion to the launch pad for Artemis II, with final checks and a wet dress rehearsal ahead of a potential February liftoff.
The 98-meter-tall Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule are now in position at Launch Pad 39B at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The vertical rollout marks a major milestone as NASA gears up for Artemis II, the first crewed Moon mission in more than five decades.
Over roughly 12 hours, a crawler-transporter carried the giant stack from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad, traveling at a cautious pace with the world watching. Once there, teams will conduct end-to-end checks, connect support systems, and run through the procedures that will underpin a live countdown.
In the coming days, engineers will stage a wet dress rehearsal—fueling and countdown drills designed to simulate launch operations without firing the engines. The exercise helps verify readiness and identify any last-minute issues.
Artemis II would carry four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian space traveler Jeremy Hansen—for a roughly 10-day mission to loop around the Moon. The flight would not land on the surface but would mark a critical stepping stone toward more ambitious lunar landings.
NASA has indicated that the earliest liftoff could be February 6, with additional launch opportunities in February and later in March and April depending on weather, readiness, and technical constraints.
The mission embodies a renewed push to return humans to the Moon and beyond, with Artemis serving as a bridge to sustained exploration and future crewed missions to more distant destinations.
