Artemis II’s Moon Mission: CAPE CANAVERAL, FL — In the quiet, predawn chill of Saturday, January 17, 2026, the silence of Florida’s Space Coast was broken by the low, rhythmic rumble of a mechanical titan. NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket—the most powerful launch vehicle ever built—began its historic four-mile “creep” from the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Complex 39B.
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The Giant Awakens: Artemis II Moves to the Pad for Humanity’s Return to the Moon
This slow, deliberate journey, known as the “rollout,” marks the final terrestrial milestone before four astronauts embark on the first crewed mission to the lunar vicinity in over 50 years.
A 4-Mile Journey, 50 Years in the Making
At roughly 7:00 a.m. EST, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, standing 322 feet tall, emerged from the VAB atop Crawler-Transporter 2. Moving at a top speed of just 1 mph, the 11-million-pound stack is expected to take nearly 12 hours to reach its seaside destination.
While the trek is short, its significance is vast. For the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, a human-rated spacecraft is sitting on a Kennedy Space Center launch pad with the explicit goal of carrying people to the Moon.
“This one feels a lot different,” noted John Honeycutt, NASA’s SLS Program Manager. “Putting a crew on the rocket changes the weight of the responsibility. We aren’t just launching hardware; we’re launching a new era of exploration.”
The Crew: Breaking New Ground
Watching the rollout from the historic countdown clock were the four individuals who will call the Orion capsule home for ten days:
| Astronaut | Role | Organization | Milestone |
| Reid Wiseman | Commander | NASA | Leading the first lunar crew of the 21st century |
| Victor Glover | Pilot | NASA | First person of color to travel beyond low-Earth orbit |
| Christina Koch | Mission Specialist | NASA | First woman to travel to the lunar vicinity |
| Jeremy Hansen | Mission Specialist | CSA | First Canadian to venture into deep space |
The Road to Liftoff
The rollout is more than a photo opportunity; it kicks off a high-stakes series of tests.
- Final Integration: Engineers will connect the rocket to the pad’s electrical, fueling, and environmental control systems.
- Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR): Scheduled for early February, NASA will load the rocket with over 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant to simulate a full countdown.
- Launch Window: If the WDR goes smoothly, the primary launch window opens on February 6, 2026.
Beyond the Flyby
The Artemis II mission is a 10-day, 685,000-mile round trip. The crew will perform a “free-return trajectory,” looping around the far side of the Moon before using lunar gravity to sling them back toward Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
This mission serves as the ultimate “test drive” for the life support and navigation systems required for Artemis III, which aims to land the first humans on the lunar South Pole by 2027.
As the SLS rocket inches toward the Atlantic horizon today, it stands as a 30-story beacon of human ambition—reminding the world that after five decades, we are finally going back.
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