The Artemis 2 rocket that will send astronauts around the moon is back on the pad, and it can be launched in less than two weeks.
NASA rolled Artemis 2is towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to launch the Complex-39B (LC-39B) at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Friday.
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The Artemis 2 stack spent the past three weeks inside KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), undergoing maintenance to address issues that arose after the rocket’s initial tests at the pad. With SLS now back on LC-39B, NASA aims to prepare the vehicle and ground systems in time for the start of the next launch window for Artemis 2, which opens on April 1.
It was the second deployment for Artemis 2, which came to the field for the first time on 17 January. During the first launch campaign, NASA managed to completed one of two “wet dress rehearsal” fuel tests ahead of launch, previously targeted for early March. However, a problem arose after testing with helium pressure in the rocket’s upper stage, which could not be fixed by the pad.
As a result, NASA rolled the SLS back to the VAB on February 25, where engineers worked for the past few weeks to address the issue and replace aircraft batteries and other minor components. A last-minute replacement—an electric harness for the flight termination system—threatened to delay the rollout until March 20, but NASA was able to complete the work in time to meet the March 19 target.
Artemis 2 SLS is a monumental 322 feet (98 meters) tall, weighs approximately 3.5 million pounds (1.6 million kg) “dry” and more than 5.75 million pounds (2.61 million kg) when fully fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
To transport the massive vehicle and MLP without damage, the eight sets of 2.3 meters roll on the 114-foot-wide (35 m) wide belt conveyor 2 at just 1 mph (1.6 km/h). The 4-mile journey between the VAB and LC-39B runs along a road of imported river rocks, which, due to the more than 18 million pounds (8.1 million kg) combined weight of the crawler, SLS and MLP, are crushed into near sand as the steps pass over them.
It is the second SLS rocket to travel this way. The first, the vehicle that flew Artemis 1was forced to roll back to the VAB three times before finally launching in November 2022. The unmanned mission sent the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit for nearly a month before returning to Earth.
Artemis 2 will be the first flight The Artemis program to launch with astronauts aboard Orion, and the first major test of the spacecraft’s life support systems. Artemis 2 will be commanded by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, who will be joined by pilot Victor Glover (NASA) and mission specialists Christina Koch (NASA) and Jeremy Hansen (from Canadian Space Agency).
They will embark on a 10-day mission aboard Orion, flying a single loop around the moon and back to earth. The mission is a significant step in NASA’s efforts to return astronauts to the lunar surface, where the agency hopes to establish a sustained presence.
NASA’s ultimate goal is to land astronauts back on the moon before the end of 2028. Part of that plan requires maturing several new technologies, including the two commercial lunar landers contracted under the Artemis Human Landing Systems program — SpaceX’s Spaceship and Blue Origin’s Blue moonboth of which are still under development.
One or both landers — NASA has indicated it is willing to fly whichever one is ready when the mission arrives — will be launched into Earth orbit as part of Artemis 3where astronauts aboard Orion will practice rendezvous and docking maneuvers between the spacecraft. That mission is scheduled for 2027, with Artemis 4 as the program’s first lunar landing a year later.
With the SLS now back in the field, the pre-launch clock has started ticking for the Artemis 2 crew. After a deployment date ended Wednesday (March 18), the astronauts went into quarantine at NASA. Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they will stay for the next week before flying to KSC.
NASA is still targeting the beginning of the next launch window, which opens on April 1, for the launch of Artemis 2. If mission managers are forced to push past that date for some reason, there are options through April 6, with a new window opening on April 30.
