NASA rolls out SLS rocket for Artemis II moon mission

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER —  More than 1,000 people came out to see NASA roll out its Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as it made its slow march to the launch pad during the chilly early morning hours on Saturday.  

The SLS is a super-heavy rocket that is 322 feet tall (98.27 meters), making it 17 feet (5.18 meters) taller than the Statue of Liberty, according to NASA.

To put it into perspective for space lovers:

At 7 a.m. ET., the SLS rocket and Orion capsule took a ride on a crawler transporter as it began its slow 4-mile ground journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

And yes, it was a slow trip, moving at 1 mile per hour or less. Between unscheduled stops and other factors, it could take between six and 12 hours before it arrives at the launch pad — its home until the planned February 2026 launch. 

Once it arrives at its temporary home, it will have its wet dress rehearsal, which is scheduled to take place either at the end of January or the start of February.

The purpose of the wet dress rehearsal is to test each phase of the launch countdown, from loading more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel into the rocket to safely standing down from a liftoff attempt.  

And that fuel isn’t something you can find at your local gas station.

“The liquid oxygen tank and liquid hydrogen tank hold a combined 733,000 gallons of propellant super cooled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit to power the four RS-25 engines at the bottom of the rocket,” NASA explained.

Sitting on top of the SLS rocket is the Orion capsule, which will carry its human crew to their 10-day mission to the moon.

It will send NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen to the moon, the first time humans visited the rocky satellite since 1972.

Glover will be the first Black man and Koch will be the first woman to fly to the moon. 

During a press conference on Saturday morning, the four shared a stage with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

Isaacman said that the Artemis II mission will fulfill more than one promise.

“Why are we doing this? We are doing this to fulfill a promise, promise to the American people that we will return to the moon, a promise to all of the pioneers, the engineers, the scientists, the astronauts, the researchers from the 1960s, which the laid the foundation that we are that we are standing upon right now. We’ll do it inevitably to figure out the orbital and lunar economy for all of the science and discovery possibilities that are out there to inspire my kids, your kids, kids all around the world to want to grow up and contribute to this unbelievable endeavor that we’re on right now,” he said.

Koch also echoed some of what Isaacman said, as well as adding some of the things the mission will focus on.

“One of the reasons that these missions are so important is the discovery and the knowledge that we bring back to Earth, and that is the entire point. We have both lunar geology science, and we have human research on this mission. Human research is that we’re participating in everything from how we can top perform behavioral health, immune response in space, which is a fascinating physiological response that humans have to microgravity,” she said.

During the press conference, Hansen said that America’s exploration of space has paved the way for other countries, such as Canada, to develop their own skills.

“I’ve really applauded the American space leadership because they carved out space for Canada to hone some of our skills, to develop workforce in specific areas, and to bring that knowledge. And the future for Canada kind of looks like where the international collaboration wants to go. We aren’t leading that collaboration. NASA is leading that collaboration, inviting our participation. We have skill sets, and I know Canada will rise to the challenge, just like they did in the Artemis. When we were asked to join Artemis, we started to lean into developing new robotic systems for deep space,” he said.

While discussing how close they have become, Wiseman also shared that they will have the easiest job on launch day.

“While we’re up there on launch day, we’ve got the easiest job. We really have the easiest job. We’ve trained for this. We know exactly what to do and it will be good. It’s our families that we think about the most on launch day,” he said.

This will be a flyby mission, as seen in this NASA graphic for Artemis II.

NASA is aiming for a Feb. 6 launch, but it can be pushed back to April. The U.S. space agency explained why.

“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,” NASA stated.

As John Honeycutt, NASA’s Artemis II mission management team chair, said during a Friday afternoon press conference, “We will fly when we are ready.”

The U.S. space agency has named the mission to return to Earth’s lunar neighbor Artemis, as a homage to the Apollo moon landing. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon.

NASA plans to send humans (including the first woman and person of color) back to the moon in 2027, more than 50 years after the last time humans stepped on the lunar surface.

The Artemis I launch took place in 2022 to test out the new systems and how they would handle going to the moon and back.

Learn about the crew