NASA's Artemis II Rocket Is Making A Slow And Steady Trek Before Take Off

NASA is getting ready to send astronauts beyond Earth's orbit for the first time in decades. On track to launch its Artemis II mission as early as February, NASA will spend the next month preparing to send its first crewed mission to the Moon in half a century. The next stage is a particularly tricky one, as the space agency looks to tackle one of the more overlooked aspects of space travel: getting the rockets to the pad.

Although it sounds like a relatively simple proposition, the issue is a common one for spaceflight. Dubbed "roll out," NASA scientists are aiming to begin moving the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from their stead at the Vehicle Assembling Building to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026. The process, which could take up to 12 hours, will see NASA's crawler-transporter 2 carry the spacecraft along the four-mile stretch. Because the stack weighs an incredible 11 million pounds, the transporter will need to carry the payload at a rate of approximately 1 mile an hour.

For NASA, the roll out constitutes another major milestone in its journey back to the moon. On Artemis II, NASA will send four astronauts to fly around the moon and back over the course of ten days. The mission, which follows the 2022 Artemis I mission, is expected to commence no later than April 2026, setting the stage for the upcoming Artemis III, the world's first mission to the lunar South Pole.

Standing 322 feet tall and weighing 5.74 million pounds when fueled, the Space Launch System is a technical feat as impressive as its astounding size — the only mechanism capable of launching NASA's Orion spacecraft, and Artemis' crew and cargo.  Equipped with four L3Harris Technologies RS-25 liquid propellent engines and two Northrop Grumman five-segment solid rocket boosters, the SLS is capable of generating 8.27 million pounds of thrust during launch. No wonder it takes so long to transport.

Luckily for NASA, its crawler-transporter 2 is up to the job. The world's heaviest self-powered vehicle, the CT-2 is size of a baseball infield, weighing 6.6 million pounds, the rough equivalent of 1,000 pickup trucks. It is capable of carrying up to 18 million pounds at a time, the rough equivalent of 20 Boeing 777s. Incredibly, the crawler is the same one NASA used 50 years ago, and has traveled 2,335 miles during its time of service. Of course, it has been upgraded over the years, receiving an improved control room, new generators, upgraded brakes, a reconditioning of all its gears, and a sparkling new paintjob.

Those interested in watching the Orion and SLS's snail-paced crawl to the launch pad will be able to do so on the agency's YouTube channel. Slated for 7 a.m. EST on January 17, the roll out will be accompanied by a news conference and media event. According to NASA, times for the rollout are subject to change depending on potential technical issues or weather delays.

Once the rocket reaches the launchpad, NASA will begin a series of pre-launch preparations and tests. NASA's checklist will include connecting critical equipment like the electrical lines and cryogenic propellant feeds. It will also see NASA power up the rocket's integrated systems in order to confirm the functioning of critical flight hardware, particularly in relation to the mission's ground infrastructure systems and mobile launcher. Then, NASA will run a common prelaunch test of the rocket's fueling processes, called a wet dress rehearsal. During this process, the scientists will load and unload the rocket with north of than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant. This is particularly poignant due to difficulties NASA experienced during its Artemis I mission. The wet dress rehearsal is also an opportunity to practice launch countdown procedures. If these procedures should unearth any major technical flaws, however, NASA will need to roll the SLS and Orion back to the Vehicle Assembling building for maintenance.

The Artemis II mission will look to take off once these arduous rounds of testing are complete. To date, NASA estimates that the mission's launch window will be between February 6 and April 6, 2026. The Artemis program's first crewed mission, the flight will demonstrate the feasibility of using Orion for extended missions and allow astronauts to test critical procedures and functions for NASA's upcoming lunar landing mission, Artemis III. Over its 10-day mission, Orion will hurtle roughly 4,700 miles past the far side of the Moon, nearly a quarter-million miles from Earth.

According to NASA, Artemis III is currently slated for 2028: A four person, 30 day trek to the lunar South Pole, where astronauts will conduct novel research, including several moonwalks. However, the timeline surrounding Artemis III remains fluid, having already experienced delays earlier last year.