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NASA Artemis II Rocket Rolls Back to Vehicle Assembly Building

NASA’s crawler-transporter 2, carrying NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft secured to mobile launcher 1, rolls back Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to troubleshoot the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Once complete, the SLS rocket will roll back to Launch Complex 39B to prepare to launch four astronauts around the Moon and back for the Artemis II test flight.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

Editor’s Note: The launch director gave the “go” for rollback at 9:28 a.m. EST followed by first motion 10 minutes later.

NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission began rolling off the launch pad at 9:38 a.m. EST, Feb. 25, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Rolling from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy is expected to take up to 12 hours.  

Once it arrives, technicians will establish platforms to diagnose the helium flow issue to the rocket’s upper stage and fix it. A livestream of the rollback will be streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel. 

Updates regarding the rollback will be posted on the mission blog, as well as X on NASA and NASA Artemis on Facebook.  

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