NASA’s giant Space Launch System rocket on the launch pad. It marks an important step toward the first manned lunar flight in more than 50 years. Credit: Screenshot – YouTube Artemis II live view from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
After years of claiming the space agency was “almost ready,” Saturday finally marked the moment NASA has been waiting for.
As first light appeared in Florida, NASA’s giant New Moon rocket slowly eased out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center and headed for the launch pad. Although the journey took a day at walking pace, it was a major step forward in human spaceflight.
If all goes according to plan, this will be the first mission to send astronauts around the moon in more than 50 years.
long walk to the moon
This rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), is impossible to miss. At 322 feet tall and weighing approximately 11 million pounds, the rocket is the most powerful launcher ever built by NASA.
The slow four-mile journey to the pad began at dawn and didn’t end until nightfall. Thousands of NASA employees and their families showed up early to watch the action. Some bundled up in coats to protect themselves from the pre-dawn chill, while others held their phones aloft to capture a moment many feared would never come.
The building in which it emerged added a layer of history. The Vehicle Assembly Building was built in the 1960s to house the Saturn V rocket that powered the Apollo program. These rockets sent 24 astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972, but then went silent.
More than half a century later, the same building launched the rocket that would bring humanity back.
NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, was there with the four astronauts selected for the mission. Crew commander Reid Wiseman was visibly moved.
“It’s a really great day to be here,” he said. “It’s awe-inspiring.”
Not the landing, but the important first step
This upcoming mission will not land astronauts on the moon. Instead, a crew of four will fly around it and return to Earth in about 10 days.
Although it may sound modest compared to Apollo, this mission is a major milestone.
No human race has traveled this far from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972, when Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt concluded their chapter on the moon landing. Of the 12 people who walked on the moon, only four are still alive today.
In addition to Wiseman, the crew includes veteran astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who will be making his first space trip.
NASA has already conducted one rocket test in November 2022, when an unmanned Orion capsule was sent around the moon. The flight revealed unexpected heat shield damage and other technical issues that required months of additional testing and analysis.
“This feels very different,” NASA official John Honeycutt said ahead of the rollout. “Putting a crew on a rocket changes everything.”
The moon landing itself is planned for a post-Artemis mission, which is still several years away.
Excitement – requires full attention
Despite the celebratory mood, NASA has deliberately avoided making any commitments.
Before a launch date is confirmed, engineers will need to conduct a full refueling test on the launch pad, scheduled for early February. Only if that goes well will the agency plan to announce when the mission will fly.
Isaacman spoke candidly about it. “I’m not going to give you an actual launch date” until the refueling tests are complete, he told reporters.
The timing will be tough. NASA has just five possible launch days in early February before the mission is postponed to March due to orbital conditions.
For astronauts, waiting is part of the job. Wiseman said the excitement of former Apollo astronauts is contagious.
“They’re so enthusiastic that we’re going back to the moon,” he said. “They just want humans to be as far away from Earth as possible and discover the unknown.”
After years of delays, redesigns, and doubts, NASA’s moon program is finally moving slowly, carefully, and with history watching every step of the way.
This time we’re not just talking about rockets on launch pads. The idea is to reopen a road that has been closed for half a century.
