CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was preparing to make history with a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
The spaceport’s countdown on Wednesday started at Launch Complex 39B ahead of NASA’s first crewed mission of the Artemis program to the moon.
The 10-day Artemis II moon flyby mission includes four astronauts who will board the Orion spacecraft, which will launch atop the Space Launch System rocket.
Watch the live stream at LC-39B
Three of the four Artemis II astronauts are from NASA: Cmdr. Reid Wiseman, a retired U.S. Navy veteran from Maryland; Victor Glover, a pilot from California; and Christina Koch, a mission specialist and engineer from Michigan.
The second Artemis II mission specialist is Jeremy Hansen, of the Canadian Space Agency. The pilot from Ontario spent a week in an Aquarius habitat off Key Largo to simulate deep-space exploration.
The astronauts were preparing for the mission’s first launch attempt at 6:24 p.m.
Watch the weather forecast
In late 2022, Artemis I successfully tested the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft.
More than three years later, the Artemis II mission workers chilled the SLS rocket again for the fueling phase.
There was a flow of super-cold propellant, and a slow flow of 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
After SLS lofts Orion with the crew aboard, an in-space rocket stage will provide propulsion for Orion to separate.
While in the elliptical orbit around Earth, mission controllers in Houston will take control of Orion.
The astronauts will check Orion’s systems are ready while in the Earth’s orbit before a four-day trip that will extend more than 230,000 miles from the Earth.
If all goes as planned, Orion will trace a figure eight around the far side of the moon before returning home to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Related stories
- Artemis II moon mission set to launch from Cape Canaveral
- Artemis II astronauts arrive at Florida launch site for first moon trip in 53 years
- Apollo’s impatient old-timers are rooting for NASA’s return to the moon with Artemis II launch
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
