US EditionArtemis II rocket begins its slow roll out to launch pad ahead of April flight date
Artemis II will carry four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby, targeting an April 1 launch after resolving technical delays, marking the first crewed mission beyond Earth orbit since 1972.
- On Friday, March 20, 2026, NASA completed the 4-mile transport of the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B, positioning the 322-foot-tall stack for critical final tests before an April 1 launch window.
- Technical issues, including hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems, forced NASA to roll the stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building in February; teams successfully resolved these malfunctions, enabling this second rollout.
- NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, began a two-week quarantine in Houston on Wednesday, preparing for the approximately 10-day lunar flyby mission.
- Final pad operations include a wet dress rehearsal to verify systems before the April 1 launch opportunity, with NASA officials noting additional work remains to ensure mission safety and readiness.
- This mission serves as a vital precursor to crewed lunar landings in 2028, as NASA's updated Artemis program aims to increase flight cadence to avoid losing "muscle memory" between launches while maintaining momentum toward Mars exploration.
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Los Angeles Weekly TimesArtemis 2 returns to the pad for April launch attempt
The Artemis 2 launch vehicle and spacecraft have returned to the launch pad for a launch as soon as April 1. The post Artemis 2 returns to the pad for April launch attempt appeared first on SpaceNews.
The NASA SLS rocket that must send four astronauts to fly over the Moon on the Artemis 2 mission is now back in its launch tower at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The launch of the mission, which aims to prepare for the return of astronauts to the lunar surface from 2028 onwards, is scheduled for the night of April 1 to 2 at 00.24 (Spanish peninsular time).Continue reading...
“It’s a test flight and it’s not risk-free, but our team and hardware are ready,” said Lori Glaze, a high-ranking NASA officer, in mid-March. After numerous delays due to technical problems, the agency announced that humanity will attempt to return to the orbit of the Moon in a time window that will open on April 1, at the Artemis II mission. 53 years after the last manned operation to the Earth’s natural satellite, NASA’s risk management team v…
How the Artemis moon missions are shaping the next era of exploration
Nearly 60 years after NASA sent the first humans to ever land on our moon, the U.S. is going back with a series of increasingly difficult missions. Horizons moderator William Brangham explores the Artemis program and what new discoveries NASA is hoping to find with PBS News science correspondent Miles O’Brien, Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society and retired astronaut and engineer Leroy Chiao.
The SLS (Spatial Launch System) rocket of the Artemis II mission, in which four astronauts will orbit the Moon, returned this Friday to the launch platform at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it maintains the expectation of leaving on April 1.The rocket's displacement, with the Orion spacecraft in which the four crew members will be coupled, lasted 11 hours after traveling 6.43 kilometers from the Vehicle Assembly Building and overc…
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