NASA Eyes New Date for Artemis II Rocket Rollout

Image shows the inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, with NASA's Space Launch System rocket with Orion's spacecraft atop for NASA's Artemis II mission.

NASA’s crawler-transporter 2, carrying NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft, arrives Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to troubleshoot the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Once complete, the SLS rocket will roll back to Launch Complex 39B to prepare to launch four astronauts around the Moon and back for the Artemis II test flight.

NASA/Cory Huston

Teams are now targeting no earlier than Friday, March 20, to roll NASA’s Artemis II rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building out to Launch Pad 39B, maintaining the opportunity for a Wednesday, April 1, launch attempt.

Over the weekend at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers were completing closeout activities ahead of rollout, previously slated for Thursday, March 19. Teams identified an electrical harness for the flight termination system on the core stage needed replacement. They have since addressed the issue and continue to complete preparations to roll out later this week.

The trek to the launch pad takes up to 12 hours aboard the crawler-transporter. The agency will provide a live stream of the rocket’s journey to the pad.

A rollout on March 20 would still preserve the possibility of launching at the beginning of the April launch window, though teams also are keeping a close eye on the weather in the coming days.