1 of 2 | NASA’s Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft are returning to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida following a wind delay on Friday. NASA plans to launch a crew of four in the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis II Mission to the moon no earlier than 01April. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
NASA’s Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft are returning to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida following a wind delay on Friday.
Transportation of Artemis II began at 12:20 a.m. EST, and will take up to 12 hours to complete. A NASA transporter is bringing the rocket and spacecraft on a four mile journey from its Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B.
High winds delayed the transport by about four hours on Thursday night.
The spacecraft is scheduled to send four astronauts on a 10-day mission around the Moon with a launch window between April 1 and 6. The crew includes three NASA astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch — and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
NASA performed a wet dress rehearsal on Feb. 21. During what it determined to be a successful dress rehearsal, NASA’s teams identified an issue with its rocket system preventing the flow of helium to the upper stage of the rocket.
The issue has been resolved but it pushed Artemis II out of its March launch window into early April.
NASA officials say they are confident they will meet their launch window in the first week of April but note that there is still work to be done to make it happen.
Artemis II rocket rolls out to the launchpad in Florida
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket emerges on Saturday morning from the Vehicle Assembly Building to start its journey to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
