NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket Rolls to Launchpad | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket Rolls to Launchpad | Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, are seen before their arrival at Launch Pad 39B, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), around the Moon and back to Earth no later than April 2026.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) under a collaborative partnership with Boeing, built the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage of the SLS rocket. 

The massive crawler kept the mobile launcher and rocket perfectly level throughout the trip, even on the gentle slopes of the crawlerway. The stack will now be secured, ground support systems will be connected, and teams will conduct a full wet dress rehearsal at the end of January to practice fueling and countdown procedures in preparation for flight.

The crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport launch vehicles from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs. They were then used to transport Space Shuttles from 1981 to 2011. The crawler-transporters carry vehicles on the mobile launcher platforms (MLPs) used by NASA, and after each launch return to the pad to take the platform back to the VAB.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Follow updates on the Artemis blog: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Image Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Image Date: Jan. 17, 2026

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