Nasa Prepares Artemis II Rocket for Historic Moon Flight

Published: 17 January 2026. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Nasa is preparing to roll out its most powerful rocket ever built ahead of a landmark human spaceflight that will carry astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century. The Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch as early as 6 February from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, represents a crucial step in the United States’ return to deep-space human exploration.

If launched on schedule, the mission will send four astronauts on a 685,000-mile journey that will last about 10 days, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. It will be only the second flight of Nasa’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket and the first time the giant vehicle flies with a crew onboard. The astronauts will travel inside the Orion spacecraft, which has been designed to sustain human life far beyond low Earth orbit.

The crew includes three Nasa astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch – alongside Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. For Koch, the mission will mark a historic milestone as she becomes the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Glover will also make history as the first person of colour to venture so far into space. Hansen will be the first Canadian to take part in a lunar mission.

Although Artemis II will not land on the moon or enter lunar orbit, it will be the first human journey around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The flight follows a successful uncrewed Artemis I test mission in 2022 and is designed to pave the way for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole as early as next year.

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire private astronaut who was sworn in as Nasa administrator in December, described Artemis II as “probably one of the most important human spaceflight missions in the last half-century”. He said the mission would validate critical systems and procedures needed to ensure humans can safely travel deeper into space.

Standing nearly 100 metres tall, the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft form one of the most complex machines ever assembled. The rocket carries more than 700,000 gallons of liquid propellant, enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool. When its engines ignite, SLS will generate sufficient thrust to propel the crew towards the moon at speeds approaching 24,500 miles per hour.

Before that dramatic moment, Nasa must complete a carefully choreographed rollout and testing sequence. As early as Saturday, the agency’s massive crawler-transporter will begin moving the 5,000-tonne rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad, a journey of four miles that can take up to 12 hours. Once on the pad, engineers will work through a detailed preflight checklist before conducting a wet dress rehearsal, during which the rocket will be fully fuelled and a mock countdown performed.

Any significant technical issues during these tests could force Nasa to roll the rocket back for repairs, potentially delaying the launch. In recent days, technicians have addressed issues including a bent cable in the flight termination system, a faulty valve in Orion’s pressurisation system and leaks in oxygen supply equipment. Officials stress that the mission will only proceed if all safety criteria are met.

“We’re going to fly when we are ready,” said John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis II mission management team. “From launch through the mission days to follow, the crew’s safety is going to be our number one priority.”

Once launched, the astronauts will orbit Earth twice before Orion separates from the rocket’s upper stage. The crew will then manually fly the spacecraft to approach and retreat from the jettisoned stage, a critical test of Orion’s handling and navigation systems. This exercise will prepare Nasa for future missions that involve docking operations in lunar orbit.

A final push from Orion’s European-built service module will then send the crew on a trajectory around the far side of the moon and back to Earth in a giant figure-of-eight path. During the voyage, the astronauts will test life-support systems, practise emergency procedures and evaluate Orion’s radiation shelter, which is designed to protect them from solar flares.

For space experts, Artemis II is both a technical milestone and a symbolic one. David Parker, former head of the UK Space Agency, described it as a step towards the long-held vision of sustained human and robotic exploration of the moon, with Mars as a longer-term goal. Yet he also acknowledged the risks. “Every rocket launch is a nail-biter,” he said, noting that SLS has flown only once before.

The mission also unfolds against the backdrop of renewed global competition in space. China has made no secret of its ambition to land its own astronauts on the moon by 2030, prompting some in the US to frame Artemis as part of a new space race. Nasa officials, however, emphasise that Artemis is ultimately about exploration, science and international cooperation.

More than 50 years after humans last walked on the lunar surface, Artemis II marks a moment of renewed excitement – and nervous anticipation. As Jeff Radigan, the mission’s lead flight director, put it, “This is a test flight, and there are things that are going to be unexpected.” For Nasa and the world watching, it is a bold step back into deep space.