The NASA Artemis II mission is targeted for launch as early as Feb. 6.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen will complete a 10-day journey around the Moon and back (no moon landing) to test systems and hardware, in preparation for future lunar landing missions.
It will be the first crewed mission to the vicinity of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Launch vehicle: Space Launch System (SLS)
Spacecraft: Orion
NASA is targeting Sat. Jan 17 for the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for final integration, testing, and launch rehearsals.
The 4-mile journey to the launch pad at KSC using the crawler-transporter-2 will take ~12 hours. After system checks and tests, astronauts will conduct a final walkdown at the pad.
At the end of Jan, NASA will conduct a wet dress rehearsal, including fueling and unfueling of the rocket without astronauts onsite.
Knock knock!
It is NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 arriving at the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC for a pick-up!
Tomorrow morning Jan. 17, at ~7 a.m. EST. it will transport NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft + Mobile Launcher to Launch Pad 39B in preparation for the Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon on ~6 Feb.
At about one mph, the four-mile journey will take 10-12 hours.
Livestream starts at 7 a.m. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrVnsO_rdew
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/01/16/artemis-ii-moon-rocket-ready-for-big-move/
3/n
A pair of crawler-transporters (nicknamed “Hans” and “Franz”) were built in 1965 to move the massive Saturn V rocket from Kennedy’s VAB to Launch Complex 39. After the Moon landing and Skylab programs ended, the crawlers were used to transport the space shuttles.
CT-2 was upgraded for the Artemis program around 2012.
CT-1 was originally planned for commercial launch vehicles but its future remains uncertain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawler-transporter
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/exploration-ground-systems/the-crawlers/
4/n
Here are a few vital specs of the unique NASA crawler-transporter vehicles. No other vehicle comes close.
Each CT is larger than the size of a baseball infield and powered by locomotive and large electrical power generator engines.
The crawlers are designed to roll underneath the mobile launcher (ML) along with assembled rocket, pick it up, and steadily carry it 4.2 miles to Launch Pad 39B.
The crawler-transporter is able to raise and lower its sides and corners independently using its hydraulic system. It uses its hydraulic suspension to keep the mobile platform and rocket level, as it climbs up the 2.9 degree slope to the the launch pad.
https://www3.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/combined_crawler-transporters_fact_sheet_final.pdf
More pics at https://images.nasa.gov/search?q=crawler&page=1&media=image,video,audio&yearStart=1920&yearEnd=2026
6/n
The NASA crawlers were built by the Marion Power Shovel Co., a manufacturer of steam shovels, power shovels and excavators. Their power shovels played a major role in mining, the construction of the Panama Canal and excavation of Hoover Dam and the Holland Tunnel.
The idea for a crawler-launcher platform started when a NASA engineer visited his father’s farm near Paradise, KY, and observed a giant strip mining shovel in operation.
https://pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/gem-of-egypt-shovel/
https://www.marionmade.org/2019/07/marion-power-shovel-nasa-crawler-transporter/
7/n
Here are a few videos of the NASA crawler-transporter in action in 2022 during the Artemis I mission.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhgPs0n3phc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpHjQjbt2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk226QwT_1k
8/n
Some amazing pics of NASA’s massive Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, taken on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.
All work platforms have been retracted in preparation for rollout to Launch Complex 39B at KSC in FL Saturday morning.
More pics at https://images.nasa.gov/search?q=artemis%20ii%20sls&page=1&media=image,video,audio&yearStart=2026&yearEnd=2026
9/n
Assuming the weather cooperates and all goes well, the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher will look like this at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in FL.
The pics below are of Artemis I in 2022 during wet rehearsals.
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/exploration-ground-systems/launch-pad-39b/
10/n
NASA Artemis II is on the move this morning!
Not to the moon yet, but crawling at less than 1 mph to the launch pad for tests and wet rehearsals in the coming days.
This live feed from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida will provide continuous views of the Artemis II Moon rocket beginning on Saturday, Jan. 17 with rollo...
Faster than a speeding snail, Artemis II is making its way to the launch pad from the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) has cranked up its speed. You can see the entire assembly (CT-2, mobile launcher and the NASA SLS rocket) now moving "rapidly" to the right.
14/n
Quite a sight as the massive Artemis II assembly - the Crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2), mobile launcher, the NASA SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft - marches from the VAB to launch pad 39B at the KSC.
Large number of staff members and spectators watching the historical moment.
Almost 9 hours after the start of its epic journey, NASA Artemis II and its SLS rocket assembly aboard crawler-transporter 2 (aka CT-2 and Franz) are perched at the base of launch pad 39B, ready to make the final challenging ascent up the 2.9 degree ramp to the launch pad.
Few more pics from NASA of the day's events at the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket aboard crawler-transporter 2 at KSC in FL.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/
17/n
Standing tall!
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen at KSC today, ready to fly Artemis II SLS and Orion on Feb 6, 2026, for a trip around the moon.
https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20260117-PH-KLS03_0048
Photographer: NASA/Kim Shiflett
18/n
🪐 
Here is a hi-res image of the Artmeis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, as the Crawler-transporter 2 rolls it out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, Saturday morning.
Compare with the image in post #12, which looks a bit more aesthetically pleasing.
Full res image at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/55046581023/in/album-72177720331471551/
More images at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/with/55044924877
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Nice comprehensive article about the NASA/ESA/CSA Artemis II mission around the moon at TIME Magazine.
https://time.com/7346146/artemis-ii-launch-nasa-astronauts-moon-mission/
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The Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal has been moved to Monday Feb 2, due to the cold weather in Florida.
With this change, the first potential opportunity to launch is no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 8.
"During the current cold weather, engineers have kept Orion powered and have configured its heaters for the colder temperatures. Purges, used to maintain proper environmental conditions for elements of the spacecraft and rocket, are also configured for the weather."
The countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal began today at 8:13 p.m. EST, or L-48 hours, 40 minutes before the opening of a simulated launch window at 9 pm. Mon, Feb. 2. The test is expected to go until ~1 a.m. Feb. 3.
Tests include loading cryogenic liquid propellant into the SLS rocket’s tanks, conducting a launch countdown, demonstrating the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and draining the tanks to practice scrub procedures.
Details at
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/01/31/countdown-begins-for-artemis-ii-wet-dress-rehearsal/
25/n
RE: https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/115921993041397124
@AkaSci
Now I need a new screen at my home PC setup. Ultra wide screen mounted in vertical mode... Just for that one wallpaper
RE: https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/115913141957128715
Our exploration, our love of science and our willingness to go to the moon, not because it was easy, but because it was hard, and to lay a plaque that said "we came in peace, for all mankind."
These are the reasons that people around the world enthusiastically wear a US Government agency logo.
Love the "DRIVE SAFELY" sign.
These astronauts are very brave, riding an untested rocket in a often-failed capsule all the way to there and back, and trusting a very dodgy heat shield.
It'll be just like Capricorn One, if they're not careful.
@AkaSci Well, you’ve got to get it out the door somehow 🙂
To be honest though, I’m deeply unexcited by Artemis. Almost sixty years after Apollo & despite all the huge developments in tech & computing since, it has a ridiculously slow cadence to repeat essentially the same feat: for reference, all of Apollo 8, 9, 10, & 11 happened within a 7 month period 😱. And the joint architecture with SpaceX for actually landing on the Moon is completely bananas.
@AkaSci Add to that the current political background, & I’m struggling to conjure much enthusiasm.
I don’t mean to take anything away from the engineers & astronauts who achieved a miracle in the 1960s or those doing it again today, but it’s not taking place in a vacuum.
Of course, Apollo also took place in a dark & dangerous time of superpower struggle & as a direct product of it, but I was just a kid then – now I hope I know better.
@AkaSci Personally, I find it quite disappointing that so many of my friends & colleagues in the space bubble choose to ignore the political environment that surrounds their “hobby”.
Particularly today, given that space is also the hobby of some of the richest individuals on the planet, people who fund the neo-fascists in power, & whose other businesses manipulate public opinion while trampling all over civil & labour regulations.
<rant mode off>
@markmccaughrean
Thanks for your insights and thoughts.
If we could somehow eliminate the political and billionaire problems, what would your vision be for the future of space exploration?
- Human exploration of the moon and Mars or robotic only?
- Human spaceflight in LEO?
- Megaconstellations?
- Space mining?
- Robotic exploration of distant planets and moons (again)
- Missions to exoplanets?
- More astronomy and space telescopes?
- More Earth observation missions
- ?
From https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/combined_crawler-transporters_fact_sheet_final.pdf -
"Once the CT-2 makes its eight-hour trek to the pad with engineers and technicians aboard, ML1 and SLS will be lowered onto pad mount mechanisms. After platforms are lowered and power transfers are complete, the CT-2 will roll back down the pad slope and park just outside the pad perimeter gate. CT-2 will wait there until a few days prior to launch in case a rollback is required."
Looking for a video ...
Here is a pic of the crawler with the Artemis I SLS rocket and mobile launcher and 2 pics after dropoff at the launch pad.
I suppose the crawler goes underneath the launch pad and the entire assembly is positioned on its sides at the launch pad above a hollow area, lowered on the supporting structures, detached from the crawler which then moves out.
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