Overview
- NASA rolled the Space Launch System and Orion to Launch Complex 39B and has begun pad hookups, checkouts, and an emergency egress evaluation.
- Teams will conduct a wet dress rehearsal that loads liquid hydrogen and oxygen and runs the countdown to about T‑29 seconds to validate launch‑day procedures.
- After data reviews and a Flight Readiness Review, managers will decide whether to target Feb. 6–8 and 10–11 opportunities or move to March or April windows.
- The 10‑day mission will fly a free‑return trajectory around the far side of the Moon to test Orion’s life support, controls, radiation protection, and heat shield without a lunar landing.
- Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will travel several thousand miles beyond the Moon, and Orion will carry an SD card with millions of public names and other keepsakes in the official flight kit.