NASA prepares to roll Artemis II Rocket to pad

By Anthony Collins

LPR Editor                             

   Above, The crew of Artemis 2, Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman,  during a countdown test Dec. 20. Credit, NASA, Aubrey Gemignani

NASA is moving closer to its first crewed mission beyond Earth orbit in more than 50 years as preparations continue for the Artemis II test flight. The agency plans to roll the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Jan. 17, marking the first time the fully integrated vehicle will be positioned at the pad for final testing and rehearsals.

   The four-mile rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building aboard crawler-transporter-2 is expected to take up to 12 hours. While teams are targeting the mid-January move, the schedule remains subject to change due to technical work or weather. Engineers recently addressed several issues discovered during final checkouts, including replacing a bent flight termination system cable, repairing a valve in Orion’s hatch pressurization system, and resolving leaks in ground support hardware.

   Once at the pad, NASA will begin extensive launch pad preparations, connecting power, environmental control systems, and propellant lines, and powering up the rocket and spacecraft together for the first time. The Artemis II crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will later conduct a final walkdown at the pad.

   By late January, NASA plans to conduct a wet dress rehearsal, a critical prelaunch test in which teams will fuel the rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants and practice the full countdown without astronauts onboard. The test will also rehearse procedures for the closeout crew and validate updated fueling and safety processes. Additional rehearsals or a rollback to the assembly building could occur if needed.

   Following a successful rehearsal, NASA will hold a flight readiness review to determine when the mission can proceed. While the Artemis II launch window opens as early as Feb. 6, final dates will depend on spacecraft readiness, crew safety, weather, and complex orbital constraints. Launch opportunities are expected to occur in roughly week-long  periods through early April 2026.

   The approximately 10-day Artemis II mission will send astronauts on a lunar flyby, testing Orion’s life-support systems and flight performance. It represents the first crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program and a major step toward returning humans to the Moon and eventually sending astronauts to Mars.