In 2024, NASA announced that the Artemis 2 mission would be pushed back to April 2026. Now, the agency says it could launch as early as February, with the first flight opportunity scheduled for February 6. NASA is currently making final preparations for the mission and will soon deploy the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to their launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft system’s six-kilometer journey from the assembly building to launch pad 39B will take up to 12 hours. NASA is aiming for a date no earlier than Jan. 17, with the exact day depending on weather and whether additional time is needed to resolve technical issues.
Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo program’s final flight in 1972. The 10-day mission will have four astronauts on board who will test whether Orion’s critical life support systems can support human passengers on future, longer-duration missions. They will first orbit the Earth twice before traveling 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. If the SLS and Orion system are deployed as planned, NASA intends to conduct a wet dress rehearsal in late January. The agency will load cryogenic propellants into the rocket and conduct a full launch countdown during the rehearsal to prepare for the actual event.
