NASA’s giant moon rocket is back on the launch pad in Florida, setting the stage for what appears to be an imminent launch of the Artemis 2 lunar mission.
Teams worked for hours beginning early morning Friday, March 20 to slowly roll the towering Space Launch System rocket across a 4-mile span of the Kennedy Space Center.
Now that the rocket – topped with the Orion crew capsule – is once again vertical and visible along Florida’s Space Coast. And now that the three Americans and one Canadian who will hitch a ride to Earth’s orbit are isolating to avoid sickness before the mission, the stage is set for an imminent launch of what will be the first U.S. human lunar mission in five decades.
As early as April, NASA will launch the four astronauts from Cape Canaveral on a 10-day journey around the moon in a crucial venture that will set the stage for a moon landing in as little as two years.
Here’s a look at new photos of the U.S. space agency’s SLS rocket being rolled back to the launch pad that will make the Artemis 2 mission happen.
NASA rolls out giant SLS moon rocket to Cape Canaveral launch pad
Teams began rolling the 322-foot rocket Space Launch System (SLS) rocket – topped with the Orion crew capsule – back to the launch pad around 12:20 a.m. ET Friday, March 20 at the Kennedy Space Center. The process, originally slated to begin around 8 p.m. the night before, was delayed due to high winds in Cape Canaveral, NASA said in a blog post.
The move came after the giant rocket, which was first rolled to the launch pad in mid-January, had been back in NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building since the end of February as engineers made repairs.
Though the arduously slow move using a massive vehicle known as a crawler-transporter was expected to take up to 12 hours, a live feed on NASA’s YouTube channel shows the rocket vertical at Launch Pad 39B.
See new photos of NASA’s Artemis moon rocket at Kennedy Space Center
NASA Artemis 2 astronauts enter quarantine before flying to Florida
The crew of Artemis 2 – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen – entered quarantine Wednesday, March 18, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
All NASA astronauts are required to go through a quarantine period ahead of a crewed spaceflight in order to avoid exposure to any illnesses that, if contracted, would jeopardize the mission. Astronauts typically quarantine for at least 14 days before the earliest possible launch.
For the next two weeks, the Artemis 2 astronauts will continue training and preparing for the mission, including conducting simulations, reviewing flight procedures, exercising and getting medical checkouts, according to NASA. About five days before liftoff, the four crew members will fly to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where they will continue to quarantine.
When is the Artemis 2 launch date? NASA targets April liftoff
NASA is working toward an April 1 launch of its historic Artemis 2 mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
But if the weather or any other factors were to cause the launch to be delayed, several other days in April remain possibilities under NASA’s timeline, including April 2-6 and April 30.
What is Artemis 2? Will there be a moon landing?
Hitching a ride atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, the Artemis 2 astronauts are due to pilot an Orion capsule on a 10-day trip around the moon. While no moon landing is in store for the mission, the crew will test systems and hardware for future expeditions to the surface while traveling about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon – the farthest humans have ever ventured in space.
While NASA tested its spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission in 2022, Artemis 2 will be the first time that the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule will fly with humans aboard.
A moon landing is now due to take place as early as 2028 during a mission known as Artemis 4. Prior to that mission, Artemis 3 astronauts aboard the Orion capsule are due to meet and dock in 2027 in Earth orbit with at least one of the commercial lunar landers being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Photos show NASA moon rocket at Kennedy Space Center for Artemis 2
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
