NASA's new moon rocket heads to the launch pad ahead of crewed fly-around

NASA moved the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B on Saturday; a pad fueling test is planned in early February and will determine the path to a possible launch later that month.

NASA rolled its Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. The 322-foot (98-meter) vehicle made the move at about 1 mph on a four-mile transporter upgraded for the rocket's size and weight. The mission is planned as a roughly 10-day out-and-back lunar fly-around with four crew members aboard. A pad fueling test is scheduled for early February and will shape the timing of a launch attempt later that month. Key details: - The vehicle left the Vehicle Assembly Building at daybreak and was expected to reach the pad by nightfall. - The combined rocket and capsule weigh about 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms) and sit on an upgraded mobile transporter. - Artemis II’s crew is listed as Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. - The mission is a 10-day out-and-back fly-around; the spacecraft will not enter lunar orbit or land on the surface. - NASA plans a pad fueling test in early February; that test will inform the launch schedule. - There is a limited launch window in the first half of February before the schedule moves into March. Summary: The rollout is a major operational step as NASA prepares Artemis II for a crewed lunar fly-around, the first human trip to the vicinity of the Moon since 1972. The next formal milestone is a pad fueling demonstration in early February, which will determine whether a launch can proceed later that month; the exact launch date remains contingent on the results of that test.