NASA has begun moving its Artemis II Moon mission hardware back to Launch Pad 39B, restarting the countdown toward a long-awaited crewed flight around the Moon.
The agency initiated the rollout of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft on Thursday evening, a process that can take up to 12 hours to complete. The journey starts from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center and covers nearly four miles to the launch pad.
Mounted on a crawler-transporter, the massive orange-and-white rocket system is carefully transported at a slow pace to ensure stability. Once at the pad, teams will proceed with final checks ahead of the next launch window, which opens on April 1.
NASA had earlier rolled the Artemis II stack — weighing roughly 11 million pounds — back into the assembly building after detecting an issue related to helium flow. Engineers used the time to diagnose and resolve the problem, along with addressing earlier technical concerns such as a liquid hydrogen leak that disrupted a previous rehearsal.
With repairs now completed, the agency is optimistic about meeting the early April launch timeline. Multiple launch opportunities are available in the first week of the month.
If all systems perform as expected, the Artemis II crew — three American astronauts and one from the Canadian Space Agency — will embark on a 10-day mission that will take them around the Moon and back to Earth.
The astronauts have already entered quarantine in Houston as part of standard pre-launch protocol, signaling that preparations for the historic journey are entering their final phase.
This mission will mark the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years and represents a critical step toward establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon, with future ambitions extending to Mars.
