NASA Begins Loading Rocket with Propellant in Crucial Test Ahead of Historic Moon Mission Launch
NASA loaded over 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant during a final test to verify the Space Launch System rocket's readiness for Artemis II lunar mission.
- On Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, NASA's launch team began fueling the Artemis II rocket at Kennedy Space Center with over 700,000 gallons of super-cold propellants.
- Launch managers say weather and timing pressures, including Arctic cold, delayed rehearsals and shortened the February window, with a Feb. 11 deadline in mind.
- A simulated countdown set for 9 p.m. ET will involve fueling the rocket, charging Orion's flight batteries, and pausing before ignition, as Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said.
- A successful fueling demo would keep the mission on track for an early-February launch, with officials saying the earliest possible liftoff is Feb. 8.
- Artemis II's four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will fly a nearly 10-day mission about 750,000 miles from Earth without landing, according to NASA.
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For the first time in more than half a century, astronauts are preparing to travel back towards the Moon. Not to land. Not to plant flags. Just to go there, loop around it, and come home again. That alone tells you a lot about the mood at NASA right now. The mission in question, Artemis II, is being treated less like a celebration and more like a test of nerve. After years of development… Source
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