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NASA Sets Jan. 17 Rollout for Artemis II, First Launch Opportunity on Feb. 6

The pad campaign culminating in a wet dress rehearsal will determine whether the crewed lunar flyby proceeds on that timeline.

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At Kennedy Space Center, Fla., NASA's moon rocket for the Artemis 1 mission rolls to the launch pad, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the mega-rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft capsule rollouts for the first time Thursday evening on the giant crawler-transporter 2, headed to Launch Complex 39-B. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
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Overview

  • NASA plans to move the fully stacked SLS and Orion to Launch Complex 39B no earlier than January 17 using Crawler-Transporter 2 for the four-mile trip that could take up to 12 hours.
  • Pre-rollout troubleshooting is complete, including replacement of a bent flight-termination cable, a verified fix on January 5 to Orion’s hatch pressurization valve, and repairs to gaseous oxygen ground-support hardware.
  • At the pad, teams will connect electrical power, environmental control ducts and cryogenic propellant lines, power up integrated systems, and host the crew for a final walkdown.
  • A late-January wet dress rehearsal will load more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and run countdowns through planned holds to T-33 seconds, recycle, and continue to T-30 seconds before draining propellants.
  • Following successful pad testing and a Flight Readiness Review, NASA can target dates in the February 6–11 launch window, with backup opportunities March 6–11 and April 1–6, and retains the option to roll back to the VAB if needed.