Name: NASA begins Artemis II rollout to launchpad
Uploaded: 2026-01-17T16:43:19.824Z
Duration: 2 min 11 s
Description: NASA is beginning its rollout of its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as preparations for the Artemis II mission enter their final stage.

NASA is beginning its rollout of its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as preparations for the Artemis II mission enter their final stage.

Merritt Island

NASA has started the rollout of the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket, topped with the Orion capsule, from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center. The rocket, which stands as tall as a 32-story building and weighs over 17 million pounds with its mobile launcher, is being transported by a massive crawler on a four-mile journey that will take at least eight hours.

Artemis II will carry four astronauts—three Americans and one Canadian—on a 10-day mission around the moon to test the Orion systems and prepare for the Artemis 3 moon landing mission. The next major milestone is a fuel test scheduled for February 2, with a possible launch as early as February 6, pending successful preparations.

NASA begins Artemis II rollout to launchpad

behind me you're looking at the side of the vehicle assembly building and the rocket has left the building. I want to step to the side so you can get a better look and I want to tell you what you're looking at that steel structure is the mobile launcher holding up the rocket behind it to the lower left you can see one of the two white solid rocket boosters jutting out from this distance it is hard to tell scale just how massive this thing is but the rocket has now left what amounts to the factory floor and it's rolling to the launch pad there it is ready to make its splashy move to the launch pad NASA's Space Launch System rocket with the Orion capsule on top as tall as a 32-story building built and stacked round-the-clock over the last year by hundreds of workers you'll begin to see this beautiful vehicle cross over the threshold of the VAB and come outside for the world to have a look what we'll all see today is the same trip another SLS rocket made for Artemis 1 back in 2022 a mobile launcher holding up the moonshot rocket both weighing more than 17 million pounds sitting on top of a massive crawler inching toward the launch pad and a four-mile commute to the pad that will take at least eight hours really doesn't get much better than this and we're making making history from Florida the SLS rocket will launch Orion and a crew on a 10-day mission flying a quarter million miles away looping around the moon and back to Earth its crew includes four astronauts three Americans and one Canadian the mission's goal test Orion systems and pave the way for Artemis 3 a moon landing mission Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman so we talked about every day that is what we were here for how do we get our friends on the surface of the moon as fast as humanly possible and as safely as humanly possible so they can carry out the mission once the rocket reaches the launch pad the next major milestone will be a fuel test loading it with propellant on February 2nd and if all goes well NASA could launch Artemis 2 as soon as February 6th

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