\n<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: The timeframe for a wet dress rehearsal has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n At 6:42 p.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 17, NASA\u2019s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft reached Launch Pad 39B after a\u00a0nearly 12-hour\u00a0journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n Hours earlier, NASA\u2019s crawler-transporter 2 began its\u00a04-mile trek\u00a0with the integrated SLS and Orion stacked on top. Moving at a maximum speed of just\u00a00.82 mph, the crawler carried the towering Moon rocket and spacecraft slowly but surely toward the pad.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once outside the VAB\u2019s high-bay doors, the rocket made a planned pause allowing teams to reposition the crew access arm\u00a0\u2013 a bridge that provides astronauts and a closeout crew access to Orion on launch day.<\/p>\n In the coming days, engineers and technicians will prepare the Artemis II rocket for the wet dress rehearsal, a test of fueling operations and countdown procedures. Targeted for no later than Feb. 2, the team will load the rocket with cryogenic, or super-cold, propellants, run through the countdown, and practice safely draining the propellants from the rocket \u2013 all essential steps before the first crewed Artemis mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n Additional wet dress rehearsals may be required to ensure the vehicle is completely checked out and ready for flight. If needed, NASA may rollback SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional work ahead of launch after the wet dress rehearsal.<\/p>\n The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on an approximately 10-day journey around the Moon and back. It is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions to the Moon\u2019s surface, leading to a sustained presence on the Moon that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts \u2013 Americans \u2013 to Mars.<\/p>\n