NASA is preparing to send astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit for the first time in decades. On track to launch its Artemis II mission as early as February, NASA will spend the next month preparing to send its first manned mission to the Moon in half a century. The next stage is a particularly tricky one, as the space agency seeks to address one of the most overlooked aspects of space travel: delivering rockets to the pad.
Although it sounds like a relatively simple proposition, the issue is a common one for spaceflight. Dubbed the “roll out”, NASA scientists are aiming to begin moving the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft from their positions in the Vehicle Assembling Building for launch at the Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026. The process, which could take up to 12 hours, will see NASA’s space shuttle drag along the crawl. of the 2-mile. Because the pile weighs an incredible 11 million pounds, the carrier would need to carry the load at a rate of about 1 mile per hour.
For NASA, the launch constitutes another important step in its journey back to the moon. On Artemis II, NASA will send four astronauts to fly around the moon and back over ten days. The mission, which follows the 2022 Artemis I mission, is expected to start no later than April 2026, setting the stage for the next Artemis III, the world’s first mission to the lunar South Pole.
Read more: What Happened to NASA’s Voyager 1 Probe?
It is being transported to the launch site
NASA’s massive drag-carrier 2 is located in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. – NASA
Standing 322 feet tall and weighing 5.74 million pounds when operational, the Space Launch System is as impressive a technical feat as its astonishing size – the only mechanism capable of launching NASA’s Orion spacecraft, and the crew and cargo of Artemis. Equipped with four L3Harris Technologies RS-25 liquid propellant engines and two Northrop Grumman five-segment solid rocket boosters, the SLS is capable of generating 8.27 million pounds of thrust during launch. No wonder it takes so long to transport.
Fortunately for NASA, its drag-transporter 2 is up to the task. The heaviest self-propelled vehicle in the world, the CT-2 is the size of a baseball infield, weighing 6.6 million pounds, the approximate equivalent of 1,000 pickup trucks. It is capable of carrying up to 18 million pounds at a time, the approximate equivalent of 20 Boeing 777s. Incredibly, the crawler is the same one NASA used 50 years ago, and it traveled 2,335 miles during its service life. Of course, it has been updated over the years, receiving an improved control room, new generators, improved brakes, reconditioning of all its gears, and a sparkling new paint job.
Those interested in watching the snail-paced crawl of Orion and SLS to the launch pad will be able to do so on the agency’s YouTube channel. Slated for 7 am EST on January 17, the launch will be accompanied by a news conference and media event. According to NASA, launch times are subject to change due to potential technical issues or weather delays.
On a mission
The four astronauts selected for the Artemis II lunar mission pose in their bright orange and blue NASA spacesuits. – NASA
Once the rocket reaches the launchpad, NASA will begin a series of pre-launch preparations and tests. NASA’s checklist will include the connection of critical equipment such as electrical lines and cryogenic propellant feed. It will also see NASA operate the rocket’s integrated systems to confirm the functioning of critical flight hardware, particularly in relation to the mission’s ground infrastructure systems and the mobile launcher. Then, NASA will run a common pre-launch test of the rocket’s fuel processes, called a wet suit test. During this process, scientists will load and unload the rocket with north of more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant. This is particularly poignant because of difficulties that NASA experienced during its Artemis I mission. The wetsuit trial is also an opportunity to practice launch countdown procedures. If these procedures should uncover any major technical flaws, however, NASA will need to roll the SLS and Orion back to the Vehicle Assembling building for maintenance.
The Artemis II mission will look to lift off once these difficult rounds of testing are complete. To date, NASA estimates that the mission launch window will be between February 6 and April 6, 2026. The first manned mission of the Artemis program, the flight will demonstrate the feasibility of using Orion for extended missions and allow astronauts to test critical procedures and functions for NASA’s next lunar landing mission, Artemis III. During its 10-day mission, Orion will hurling about 4,700 miles past the far side of the Moon, almost a quarter of a million miles from Earth.
According to NASA, Artemis III is currently planned for 2028: Trek of four people, 30 days to the Lunar South Pole, where the astronauts will do new research, including several moonwalks. However, the timeline around Artemis III remains fluid, having already experienced delays earlier last year.
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