Artemis II Moon Rocket Ready for Big Move

Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency’s Artemis II Moon rocket stands poised for the next step in its journey. Engineers are targeting no earlier than 7 a.m. EST, Saturday, Jan. 17, to begin rolling NASA’s powerful SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher, to the spaceport’s Launch Pad 39B.

NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 will carry the 11-million-pound stack at about one mile per hour along the four-mile route to Launch Pad 39B. The journey will take up to 12 hours. The time of rollout is subject to change if additional time is needed for technical preparations or weather.

A live feed of rollout will begin at the start of rollout and a media gaggle with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the Artemis II crew will begin at 9 a.m. Both will stream on NASA’s YouTube channel. Individual streams for each of these events will be available from that page. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

Below is the weather criteria for rollout:

Do not roll to launch pad if the lightning forecast is greater than 10% within 20 nautical miles of the launch area during rollout.

Do not roll to launch pad if there is greater than a 5% chance of hail forecast in the launch area during rollout.

Do not roll to launch pad if sustained wind is forecast to be greater than 40 knots or peak wind greater than 45 knots.

Do not roll to launch pad if temperature is less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit at the launch area during rollout.

Rollout to the pad marks another milestone leading up to the Artemis II mission. In the coming weeks, NASA will complete final preparations of the rocket and, if needed, rollback SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional work. While the Artemis II launch window opens as early as Friday, Feb. 6, the mission management team will assess flight readiness after the wet dress rehearsal across the spacecraft, launch infrastructure, and the crew and operations teams before selecting a launch date.

As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, the approximately 10-day Artemis II test flight is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign. It is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions to the Moon’s surface, leading to a sustained presence on the Moon that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars.