NASA Targets March 19 Rollout for Artemis II Moon Mission
NASA is targeting Thursday, March 19, to roll the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, with Artemis II still scheduled for a no-earlier-than April 1, 2026 launch, according to the agency.
If the schedule holds, Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon on a free-return trajectory. NASA has described the mission as the first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Crew and Mission Profile
Artemis II is set to carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. NASA plans the mission as an approximately 10-day flight that will send Orion around the Moon without entering lunar orbit.
The objective is to validate Orion's life-support, navigation, communications, and crew operations in deep space before a later lunar landing attempt under Artemis III.
Recent Schedule Work
NASA said rollout planning followed replacement of an electrical harness on the flight termination system of the SLS core stage, according to the agency's March 17 update. NASA has also said Artemis II passed its Flight Readiness Review ahead of rollout preparations.
The trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39B is about 4.2 miles (6.8 km) and typically takes several hours on the crawler-transporter.
Why Artemis II Matters
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed test of the integrated SLS-Orion system. Artemis I demonstrated the architecture on an uncrewed mission in 2022; Artemis II is intended to show that the vehicle and spacecraft can support a crew on a deep-space trajectory.
The mission is also a prerequisite for later Artemis flights. NASA has said Artemis III is planned as the program's first crewed lunar landing mission, pending readiness of supporting systems including SpaceX's Human Landing System.
What Comes Next
If Artemis II launches on schedule and meets its objectives, NASA will shift toward final preparations for Artemis III and later missions in the campaign. For now, the immediate milestone is the rollout to Pad 39B, which begins the visible final phase of launch processing.
Sources
- NASA Artemis II Mission Overview (https://www.nasa.gov/artemis/)
- NASA — “NASA Reassessing Artemis II Rollout as Ground Teams Make Up Time,” March 17, 2026 (https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/03/17/nasa-reassessing-artemis-ii-rollout-as-ground-teams-make-up-time/)
- NASA Flight Readiness Review results, March 2026 (https://www.nasa.gov/)
- EarthSky — Artemis II launch date and mission profile (https://earthsky.org/)