NASA's moon rocket to roll back out for Artemis 2 launch in Florida – St. Augustine Record

NASA’s giant moon rocket will soon be towering over Florida once again as the agency moves closer and closer to launching its first human lunar mission in half a century.
The 322-foot Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, developed specifically for the U.S. space agency’s renewed lunar program, is due to be rolled out for the second time in 2026 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. The impending move to the launch pad would mark a critical milestone ahead of a mission known as Artemis 2.
The second mission under NASA’s multibillion-dollar Artemis program, Artemis 2 would mark the agency’s first lunar venture with humans aboard since the Apollo era came to an end in 1972. Originally slated for a February launch, the mission has encountered delays amid issues with the SLS rocket that prevented it from getting off the ground.
Now, after the rocket was moved from the launch pad more than three weeks ago for repairs, NASA will roll it back out again in the coming days.
Here’s everything to know about the SLS rollout, and how to watch NASA’s live coverage of the move.
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NASA looks to soon roll the 322-foot rocket Space Launch System (SLS) rocket – topped with the Orion crew capsule – back to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center.
The target date for the rollout has fluctuated as NASA teams determine when the integrated spacecraft will be ready for the arduous 4-mile trek back to Launch Pad 39B. After bumping the rollout from Thursday, March 19, to Friday, March 20, NASA now says it may be possible to transport the SLS on the earlier day after all.
The original possible delay was due to an electrical harness on the core stage’s flight termination system that needed to be replaced. Regardless of the day the rollout takes place, the target launch date would remain the same, NASA said.
The impending move comes after the giant rocket, which was first rolled to the launch pad in mid-January, has been back in NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building since the end of February as engineers made repairs.
When a date and time for the rollout is finalized, NASA plans to provide live coverage of the move – expected to take up to 12 hours as the fully-stacked rocket is slowly transported on a massive vehicle known as a crawler-transporter.
The event is not listed on NASA+, the agency’s free streaming service. A livestream is likely to be available on NASA’s YouTube channel.
NASA is working toward an April 1 launch of its historic Artemis 2 mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
But if the weather or any other factors were to cause the launch to be delayed, several other days in April remain possibilities under NASA’s timeline, including April 2-6 and April 30.
The announcement, made during a March 12 news conference, followed a flight readiness review in which officials assessed a variety of factors, including the status of the lunar rocket, before committing to a target launch date.
Hitching a ride atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, the Artemis 2 astronauts are due to pilot an Orion capsule on a 10-day trip around the moon. While no moon landing is in store for the mission, the crew will test systems and hardware for future expeditions to the surface while traveling about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon – the farthest humans have ever ventured in space.
While NASA tested its spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission in 2022, Artemis 2 will be the first time that the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule will fly with humans aboard.
A moon landing is now due to take place as early as 2028 during a mission known as Artemis 4. Prior to that mission, Artemis 3 astronauts aboard the Orion capsule are due to meet and dock in 2027 in Earth orbit with at least one of the commercial lunar landers being developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
The crew of Artemis 2 includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen.
With a target launch date set, the astronauts will be required to isolate in quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston for about two weeks before the mission in order to avoid exposure to any illnesses. NASA has not yet announced when the quarantine process will begin.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.

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