NASA's Artemis II Mission: Mega Moon Rocket Positioned on Launch Pad

Sun Jan 18 2026 23:23:43 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

NASA's Space Launch System rocket has reached its launch pad in Florida, marking a significant milestone for its upcoming Artemis II mission—to travel around the Moon with a crew for the first time in over 50 years.

NASA's mega rocket, the Space Launch System, has successfully arrived at Launch Pad 39B in Cape Canaveral as preparations intensify for the Artemis II mission. This mission will see four astronauts orbit the Moon, laying the groundwork for future lunar exploration. With its launch window set around February 2026, NASA assures a commitment to crew safety while aiming for new advancements beyond the Moon.

NASA's mega rocket has been moved to the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the final preparations get underway for the first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.

Over almost 12 hours, the 98m-tall Space Launch System was carried vertically from the Vehicle Assembly Building on the 4-mile (6.5km) journey to the pad.

Now it is in position, the final tests, checks - and a dress rehearsal - will take place, before the go-ahead is given for the 10-day Artemis II mission that will see four astronauts travel around the Moon.

NASA says the earliest the rocket can blast off is February 6, but there are also more launch windows later that month, as well as in March and April.

The rocket began moving at 07:04 local time (12:04 GMT) and arrived at Launch Pad 39B at 18:41 local time (23:42 GMT). The rocket was carried by a huge machine called a crawler-transporter, travelling at a top speed of 0.82 mph (1.3 km/h) as it trundled along. Live coverage captured the slow-moving spectacle.

NASA said the rocket will be prepared over the next few days for what it calls a wet dress rehearsal - a test for fuel operations and countdown procedures.

The Artemis II crew - NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen - were at the Kennedy Space Center watching the rocket as it was moved. In just a few weeks, the four astronauts will be strapped into a spacecraft, perched on the top of the rocket, ready to blast off to the Moon. This will be the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 landed on its surface in December 1972.

NASA said the mission could take its astronauts further into space than anyone has been before. Artemis II is not scheduled to land on the Moon but will instead lay the groundwork for a future lunar landing led by the Artemis III mission, scheduled for no earlier than 2027.

Inside their cleanroom, the team is busy building more modules for future Artemis missions. Each module takes about 18 months to assemble and has taken thousands of engineering hours to design. We've got to get those astronauts to the Moon and then back again, completely safely, says Sian Cleaver, a spacecraft engineer at Airbus.

With the rocket now on launchpad 39B, the Artemis team is working diligently to prepare for liftoff. Despite facing years of delays, NASA is under pressure to get the astronauts on their way but reiterated that safety remains its top priority.