Artemis II, humankind’s first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, is finally nearing reality.
At a press conference on Friday, NASA officials laid out the time line for what will happen both on the days before the mission lifts off and during Artemis II—and immediately afterward. Astronaut safety is the paramount priority, and the time line for launch could change, said John Honeycutt, Artemis II’s mission management team chair, at the event.
“I will tell you, we’re going to fly when we’re ready,” Honeycutt said.
“Artemis II is a test flight. It truly is exploration,” said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist at NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “There will be a number of firsts that we will be proving out on this flight. I like to say that during exploration, science is our toolbox for survival.”
The update came a day before one of the first major steps to getting Artemis II off the ground: on Saturday, after years of work, delays and anticipation, engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., will begin rolling out the fully stacked Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B will be a slow, stately crawl of roughly four miles and will take eight to 10 days, culminating in easing the mission’s hulking hardware onto the launch pad.
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