NASA's Moon Rocket Rolls to the Launchpad for the First Time

NASA's Moon Rocket Rolls to the Launchpad for the First Time

On March 17, 2022, the Orion spacecraft atop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of its wet dress rehearsal to test rocket operations. Upon completion of the tests, the rocket will return to the vertical assembly building for final checks before its historic launch for Artemis I later this spring.

Orion will conduct critical tests during the Artemis I mission to pave the way for future missions that will take human passengers back to the Moon for the first time since 1972.

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.  It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

Learn more about Artemis I at:

NASA's Artemis Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html

Credit: Lockheed Martin

Duration: 1 minute, 35 seconds

Release Date: March 18, 2022

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