NASA rolls Artemis II rocket to pad ahead of critical fueling test

NASA rolled the Artemis II Space Launch System and its mobile launcher to Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on Jan. 17, 2026, preparing for a high‑stakes fueling exercise that must succeed before four astronauts can fly around the moon. The 11‑million‑pound, 322‑foot rocket and Orion spacecraft made the roughly four‑mile trip over 12 hours on the crawler‑transporter.

NASA says the so‑called "wet dress rehearsal" will load about 700,000 gallons of ultra‑cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, run through countdown procedures and take the clock to T‑29 seconds. NASA is targeting Feb. 2 for the exercise, and Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell‑Thompson said, "We need to get through wet dress, we need to see what lessons we learn as a result of that, and that will ultimately lay out our path toward launch." The mission will carry Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Canada's Jeremy Hansen and would be NASA's first crewed lunar flight in 53 years since Apollo 17.

Engineers built Artemis II on lessons from the uncrewed 2022 flight, which required multiple fueling attempts; teams adjusted liquid‑oxygen loading after temperature issues, modified hardware after hydrogen leaks at the ground‑to‑rocket connection, and changed and cryogenically tested a troublesome valve.

Key Topics

Science, Artemis Ii, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Space Launch System, Orion Spacecraft