Name: Final preparations for Artemis II launch underway
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T15:07:16.759Z
Duration: 2 min 37 s
Description: NASA says it could be just weeks away from launching astronauts on a flight around the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Final preparations are underway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the Artemis II moon rocket is expected to roll out to the launch pad on Saturday.

NASA says it could be just weeks away from launching astronauts on a flight around the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Final preparations are underway at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the Artemis II moon rocket is expected to roll out to the launch pad on Saturday.

Cape Canaveral

NASA is finalizing preparations for the Artemis II mission, which will send a crew of four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth. The mission will utilize the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's most powerful deep space rocket, assembled by a team working continuously since November 2024.

The Artemis II crew, who have trained for over two years, will be the first astronauts to travel this close to the lunar surface since 1972. NASA plans to conduct a series of critical tests once the rocket reaches the launch pad, with the first launch window set to open on February 6th.

Final preparations for Artemis II launch underway

Behind all that scaffolding stands the Space Launch System rocket, NASA's answer to anyone who's ever asked for the moon. It's an experience of a lifetime, to be honest with you. The building of the rocket, the stacking of the rocket, start to finish, is you. Effectively, yeah. We met Matt Cech, the Senior Vehicle Operations Manager here. Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, his team has built NASA's most powerful deep space rocket ever. From its base to the Orion capsule on top, it's as tall as a 33-story building. Wow. Cech took us 300 feet up. For an up-close tour of the rocket, his team has grown, ground up. There's nothing about human spaceflight that is easy or simple. Hundreds of people have worked round-the-clock, seven days a week, since November of 2024. A million things have to go right, and only one thing has to go wrong. That's absolutely right. Everything we do here is dependent on the person before you having done their job and done it well. On Saturday, the SLS rocket will roll out to the launch pad ahead of a test flight, Artemis II. It will launch Orion and a crew on a 10-day mission, looping around the moon and back to Earth. Not since Apollo 17 in 1972 will astronauts fly this close to the lunar surface. The crew of four has trained for this moment for two and a half years. Pilot Victor Glover, mission specialists Christina Cook and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, and commander Reid Wiseman. We are human operators on scene as we head out to the moon, 250,000 miles from Earth, and we are really there to take care of the spacecraft, to work with Mission Control in Houston, and get this mission accomplished. And to tee it up for Artemis III. That's what we talk about every day. Artemis III will be a moon landing, NASA hopes, by 2028. The Chinese intend to land on the moon before 2030, and Artemis II is a critical milestone in America's second space race. Does the capsule bring home the responsibility of making sure everything goes perfectly? It really does. There's a there's a special responsibility that comes with that. Each one of us has met the four crew members, and it's our responsibility when we launch them to make sure they come back. Once this rocket gets to the launch pad, NASA will begin a series of critical tests, and how well those tests go will help determine when this mission should launch. Adriana, the first launch window opens on February 6th. And we'll know you'll be there, Mark. Thank you so much.

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