MOON, HERE WE COME
Hey Space Placers!
MOON, HERE WE COME
A lifelong dream fulfilled...
Follow Artemis here and on @wtop.com
January 15, 2026
Greg Redfern
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Hundreds of NASA employees and contractors are working on this three day holiday weekend to attempt something that hasn’t happened since December 1972 - sending NASA astronauts to the moon.
Final preparations to transport the Artemis II mission https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/ “stack” comprised of the Space Launch System rocket https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/space-launch-system/ and the Orion spacecraft https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/orion-spacecraft/ to Launch Pad 39B are underway. Once the go ahead is given, the eleven million pound stack, secured to a huge transporter-crawler - Number 2 https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-crawler-transporter-2-sets-record/ to be precise - will rollout from the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/kennedy/kennedy-at-60-vehicle-assembly-building-ready-for-new-era-of-launch-vehicles/ .
The stack was built in the VAB over a period of months, checked out and is scheduled to make the twelve-hour long journey to the launch pad at a speed of 1 mile per hour scheduled to commence Saturday, 7 a.m. EST.
The transporter crawler will keep the stack perfectly level as it ascends an incline to the launch pad and deposit the stack and its launching platform. Then will begin the lengthy process necessary to check out the hardware, software and thousands of other items on the stack, launch control center and supporting elements of the Artemis II mission.
The four members of the Artemis II crew have been in extensive and lengthy training for their ten-day lunar flyby mission and they will be the first humans to be in proximity to the moon since the three NASA astronauts of Apollo 17 in December 1972. Harrison Schmitt - the only scientist (geologist) to walk on the moon so far, and Gene Cernan, spent three days on the lunar surface while their cremate Ron Evans orbited overhead in the Apollo Command Module.
We have learned a lot about the moon since the Apollo program ended with Apollo 17. There have been a myriad of uncrewed lunar missions since Apollo 17 by numerous nations which have orbited, landed and in several instances, crashed. And there are more planned by India, China, Europe, Russia and NASA, to include both crewed and robotic. Artemis III, currently scheduled for 2029, will be NASA’s crewed landing attempt at the lunar South Pole. China has scheduled its crewed lunar landing for 2030.
But with Artemis II it will be human eyes and Nikon Z5 cameras and lenses passing by observing and photographing that herald humans returning to the moon.
While the Artemis II crew won’t land on the moon they will flyby it and hope to see the far side of the moon in full phase. In a forthcoming article I will explain in detail what they are trying to accomplish science wise as I visited Goddard Space Flight Center recently and interviewed the lunar scientist responsible for establishing the science parameters of the mission.
If all goes well I will witness the rollout of the stack and attend a press conference that will feature new NASA Administrator Jared Issacman and the four Artemis II crew members NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
You can stream this weekend’s events online https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/coverage-briefing-set-for-nasas-artemis-ii-moon-rocket-roll-to-pad/ .
The current launch window dates for February, March and April can be viewed here https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-2/final-steps-underway-for-nasas-first-crewed-artemis-moon-mission/ .
As always, the scheduled date for each evolution can change very quickly.
Stay tuned to WTOP for ongoing coverage of Artemis II.
LIGHT.THAT.CANDLE!
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