Artemis II Rocket Makes Historic Rollout At Kennedy

On January 17, 2026, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida became the stage for a momentous event in modern space exploration: the rollout of NASA’s Artemis II stack, a towering assembly of the Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket and the Orion Space Capsule. This slow-motion spectacle, which began inside the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), marked a major milestone not only for NASA but for the broader international quest to return humans to the Moon.

The Artemis II stack’s journey from the VAB to Launch Pad 39B covers just about four miles. Yet, this short distance belies the complexity and significance of the operation. According to NASA and as reported by WTOP and Bloomberg, the entire move was expected to take up to 12 hours, with the crawler-transporter inching forward at a deliberate pace of roughly 1 mph. Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson captured the mood during a Friday news conference, telling reporters, “When I am with you, it means there is a milestone upon us. And we are approaching a big one for us.” She added, “It takes a little while to get out of the VAB but about an hour after first motion you will get to see this beautiful vehicle cross the threshold, come outside and the world will have a look.”

The rollout is more than just a logistical operation—it’s a prelude to a historic mission. Artemis II is poised to be the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. This 10-day mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than February 6, 2026 (with additional windows in February, March, and April), will not land on the lunar surface. Instead, it will lay crucial groundwork for Artemis III, which aims to put astronauts back on the Moon no earlier than 2027.

The Artemis II crew brings together a blend of experience, diversity, and international partnership. Commander Reid Wiseman, a Navy veteran and engineer, leads the team. Wiseman has previously served aboard the International Space Station, but he’s been open about the personal challenges he’s faced, once describing his time as an only parent as his “greatest challenge and the most rewarding phase” of his life, according to BBC reporting. Victor Glover, the mission’s pilot, made history as the first black person selected to go to the Moon. Glover, chosen as a NASA astronaut in 2013, has already piloted the SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station. Mission specialist Christina Koch, inspired by a photograph of Earth taken during Apollo 8, has also served on the International Space Station and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019. Rounding out the team is Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, a former fighter pilot and physicist who will become the first non-American to travel to the Moon.

As Artemis II readies for its journey, the crew’s excitement is palpable. During a news conference, Wiseman remarked, “We’re ready to go,” emphasizing the teamwork that has gone into preparing for this mission over the past two years. Koch, reflecting on the broader significance, said, “Discovery and the knowledge that we bring back to earth” is the “entire point” of the operation. When asked about the launch date, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was circumspect, stating he had “zero intention of communicating an actual launch date”—a nod to the unpredictable nature of spaceflight scheduling.

The mission’s trajectory is ambitious. After launch, the crew will first orbit Earth, manually flying the Orion capsule to practice maneuvers needed for future lunar landings. Then, they will venture thousands of kilometers beyond the Moon, testing the spacecraft’s life-support, propulsion, power, and navigation systems. The astronauts themselves will serve as medical test subjects, sending back data and imagery from deep space. The radiation levels they’ll encounter will be higher than those on the International Space Station, but still within safe limits. After their journey, they’ll return to Earth, experiencing a fiery reentry and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. west coast.

Personal stories and symbolic gestures also accompany the mission. Glover plans to take his Bible and family heirlooms for his daughters and wife, while Hansen will carry four moon pendants he gifted to his wife and children two years ago. These tokens underscore the human dimension of space exploration—a reminder that, while the Artemis II crew will be far from home, their thoughts will be with loved ones on Earth. As Wiseman put it, “We’ve got the easiest job… it’s our families that we think about the most on launch day.”

The Artemis program represents a new era in lunar exploration, one built on international cooperation and technological innovation. Artemis II will not land on the Moon, but it will pave the way for Artemis III, which aims for a lunar landing near the Moon’s south pole. After that, Artemis IV and V will begin constructing Gateway, a small space station that will orbit the Moon, enabling longer stays and more extensive exploration. The program’s vision is clear: to establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon, leveraging new technologies and commercial partnerships.

The United States is not alone in its lunar ambitions. As highlighted by BBC’s science correspondents, several other nations are racing to the Moon. Europe and Japan have secured seats on future Artemis missions, while China is developing its own crewed lunar craft, targeting a landing near the Moon’s south pole by 2030. Russia, despite facing sanctions and technical setbacks, continues to talk about sending cosmonauts to the lunar surface and building a small base between 2030 and 2035. India, buoyed by the success of its Chandrayaan 3 mission in 2023, has set a goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by 2040. This growing roster of lunar hopefuls underscores the Artemis II mission’s role as a touchstone in a new global space race.

For all its technical complexity, Artemis II is also about the power of human observation and curiosity. As Wiseman noted, the crew will fly over areas of the Moon never before mapped by Apollo missions. Koch explained, “Believe it or not, human eyes are one of the best scientific instruments that we have. We’ve been training how to turn those observations into answering some of the biggest questions of our time, questions like: ‘Are we alone?’” She added, “We can answer that by going to Mars in the future, and this mission can be the first step in bringing that answer back to team humanity.”

As the Artemis II stack slowly made its way across Kennedy Space Center, watched by engineers, journalists, and the public alike, it was clear that this was more than just a rocket on the move. It was a symbol of renewed ambition—a step toward answering age-old questions and forging new paths among the stars.