KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida—Preparations for a landmark human spaceflight mission to the Moon, the first in more than 50 years, progressed significantly this weekend with the deployment of the Artemis II rocket to its launch pad.
The rocket traveled at a maximum speed of just 1 mph during its four-mile, 12-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As the Orion capsule atop the rocket concludes its nearly 10-day mission through the cislunar space, it will reach speeds exceeding 25,000 mph upon re-entering the atmosphere to return its four-person crew to Earth.
“This is the start of a very long journey,” stated NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We concluded our last human exploration of the moon with Apollo 17.”
The Artemis II mission is poised to break several significant human spaceflight records. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will travel farther from Earth than any humans in history. They will not, however, land on the Moon. That milestone is reserved for the subsequent mission within NASA’s Artemis program.
The Artemis II crew will venture more than 4,000 miles beyond the Moon's far side (with exact distances subject to the launch date), setting up a human spaceflight speed record during their fiery reentry into the Pacific Ocean days later. Koch will make history as the first woman to travel to the Moon's vicinity, while Hansen will be the first astronaut from outside the United States to do so.
“We really are ready to go,” said Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, during Saturday’s rollout event. “Yesterday, we engaged in an intense 10-hour simulation [in Houston], completing our final capstone entry and landing simulation. We then traveled via T-38s to the Cape to witness this significant occasion.”