24.02.2026
NASA to Rollback Artemis II Rocket, Spacecraft
Weather pending, NASA will roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Engineers are continuing to prepare for the move after encountering an issue with the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage.
On Feb. 21, managers decided to remove recently installed platforms before high winds descend on the Space Coast, which poised teams for rollback while discussions about the issue were ongoing. Returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy is required to determine the cause of the issue and fix it.
Teams are reviewing the exact time to begin the approximately 4 mile, multi-hour trek.
The quick work to begin preparations for rolling the rocket and spacecraft back to the VAB potentially preserves the April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings, repair efforts, and how the schedule comes to fruition in the coming days and weeks.
The Artemis II crew members were released from quarantine the evening of Feb. 21 and remain in Houston.
NASA will hold a media event in the coming days to discuss rollback, and plans for the Artemis II test flight.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 26.02.2026
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First Motion Set for Artemis II Rollback
NASA is targeting approximately 9 a.m. EST, Wednesday, Feb. 25, to begin rolling the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad and back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams will continue to monitor winds and temperatures in advance of the roll.
The approximately 4-mile trek is expected to take up to 12 hours. Once back in the VAB, teams will immediately begin work to install platforms to access the area of the helium flow issue. Teams also will take advantage of the time in the VAB to replace batteries in the flight termination system and retest it, and replace additional batteries in the upper stage.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 5.03.2026
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NASA Artemis II moon rocket repairs underway, April launch possible
After a helium flow issue temporarily grounded the Artemis II SLS rocket, NASA announced they'd found the root cause of the problem that delayed the return-to-the-moon mission — a dislodged seal that led to an obstruction.
Repairs are underway inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, and the massive orange-and-white moon rocket is expected to be rolled back to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad later this month.
The long-awaited Artemis II mission, which will send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, is set for no earlier than April 1.
The helium flow problem was discovered after a successful wet dress rehearsal in February; that's when teams fuel the rocket and bring it through most of the countdown. While teams worked to transition SLS to launch configuration after the fueling test, an interruption to the flow of helium in the SLS rocket's upper stage was found.
“Engineers determined a seal in the quick disconnect, through which helium flows from the ground systems to the rocket, was obstructing the pathway,” a March 3 NASA blog post said. “The team removed the quick disconnect, reassembled the system, and began validating the repairs to the upper stage by running a reduced flow rate of helium through the mechanism to ensure the issue was resolved. Engineers are assessing what allowed the seal to become dislodged to prevent the issue from recurring.”
While the rocket is inside the VAB, teams are performing other maintenance to the rocket, which originally rolled to the launch pad in mid-January.
“They are activating a new set of flight termination system batteries ahead of end-to-end retesting of the system and also are replacing the flight batteries on the upper stage, core stage, and solid rocket boosters, and charging the Orion launch abort system batteries,” the NASA blog said. “Work to replace a seal on the core stage liquid oxygen line feed system began March 2. Once complete, teams will reassemble the oxygen tail service mast umbilical plate and perform various integrity tests to ensure the seal interface is tight.”
Isaacman announces 'NASA Force' as agency aims to speed up Artemis missions
The ongoing delays to the NASA’s Artemis program prompted NASA's new chief to call for changes that would lead to a quicker turnaround time between missions.
On March 3, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the creation of NASA Force, which aims to bring talented people directly into NASA instead of relying on vendors. This will be done by utilizing U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the head human resources department for the federal government.
“Today, we’re launching NASA Force with @USOPM,” Isaacman posted to X (formerly Twitter). “Returning to the Moon requires restoring core competencies in our civil servant workforce.”
Isaacman said that the new program would bring in top talent for two-year terms and would feature workers with aerospace, software and systems expertise, as well as skilled technical workers.
“This will strengthen in-house engineering excellence, close skill gaps, and deepen partnerships with industry. We’re investing in our people to deepen America’s leadership in space,” Isaacman wrote.
The Artemis II SLS rocket has suffered numerous problems, leading to delays in the planned launch.
“We've got a lot of really talented folks that have been working hard on the Artemis II campaign, and whether they're going to want to stick around for three more years after this mission is complete, is a question mark,” Isaacman said, in noting that Artemis missions needed to fly more frequently. “This is just not the right pathway forward.”
The proposed changes include modifications to the complex rocket configuration, setting ambitious new objectives, increasing the pace of manufacturing and reducing time between flights.
Artemis III, which was set to be the moon landing, will now be an Earth orbit mission testing one or both of the planned landers in 2027. Artemis IV is now set to be the moon landing and is currently targeting no earlier than 2028.
Quelle: Florida Today
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Update: 8.03.2026
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Track NASA’s Artemis II Mission in Real Time
As NASA invites the public to follow the Artemis II mission as a crew of four astronauts venture around the Moon inside the agency’s Orion spacecraft, people around the world can pinpoint Orion during its journey using the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW).
During the approximately 10-day mission, NASA will test how the spacecraft’s systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the deep space environment. Using AROW, anyone with internet access can track where Orion and the crew are, including their distance from Earth, distance from the Moon, mission duration, and more. Access to AROW is available on:
- NASA’s website (www.nasa.gov/trackartemis)
- The NASA app (www.nasa.gov/nasa-app)
Using AROW, the public can visualize data that is collected by sensors on Orion and then sent to the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston during its flight. It will provide constant information using this real-time data beginning about one minute after liftoff through Orion’s atmospheric reentry to Earth at the end of the mission.
Online, users can follow AROW to see where Orion and the crew are in relation to the Earth and the Moon and follow Orion’s path during the mission. Users can view key mission milestones and characteristics on the Moon, including information about landing sites from the Apollo program.
The mobile app includes similar features to the website, with the addition of augmented reality tracker. After a brief calibration sequence, on-screen indicators will direct users where to move their phone to see where Orion currently is relative to their position on Earth. Mobile app tracking will be available once Orion separates from the rocket’s upper stage, approximately three hours into the mission.
State vectors, or data that describes precisely where Orion is located and how it moves, also will be provided by AROW, following a proximity operations demonstration to evaluate the manual handling qualities of Orion.
These vectors can be used for data lovers, artists, and creatives to make their own tracking app or data visualization. Also available for download will be trajectory data from the flight, called an ephemeris, found at the bottom of this page, after the mission begins. The ephemeris data can be used to track Orion with your own spaceflight software application or telescope, or to create projects such as a physics model, animation, visualization, or tracking application.
Artemis II, the agency’s first crewed mission in the Artemis campaign, is a key step in NASA’s path toward establishing a long-term presence at the Moon and confirming the systems needed to support future lunar surface exploration and paving the way for the first crewed mission to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 11.03.2026
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NASA to Share Artemis II Flight Readiness Review Update
NASA will host a news conference at 3 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 12, to highlight progress toward the Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon. The media briefing will take place from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the conclusion of an Artemis II Flight Readiness Review.
The news conference will stream live on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media, as available.
NASA participants include:
- Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
- John Honeycutt, chair, Artemis II Mission Management Team
- Shawn Quinn, manager, Exploration Ground Systems Program
- Norm Knight, director, Flight Operations Directorate
This event is open in-person for media previously credentialed at NASA Kennedy for the Artemis II launch. To participate virtually, media must RSVP for call details no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the event to the newsroom at NASA Kennedy: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media credentialing policy is online.
NASA is continuing work on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft in NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building before a second rollout to the launch pad later this month ahead of a potential launch in April.
As part of Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 14.03.2026
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Artemis II Flight Readiness Polls Go to Proceed Toward April Launch
NASA completed the agency’s Artemis II Flight Readiness Review on Thursday, March 12, and polled “go” to proceed toward launch. NASA is targeting Thursday, March 19, to roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft to launch pad 39B in advance of a launch attempt Wednesday, April 1, pending close out of remaining open work.
Agency leaders provided updates about the outcome of the readiness review in a news conference.
View an updated calendar of April launch opportunities.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 16.03.2026
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NASA manager Giles describes his role in moving Artemis to pad 39B
Like a massive mechanical Atlas bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders, NASA’s Crawler-Transporter 2 will soon slowly scoot the Artemis II rocket and mobile launch tower back to the pad so American astronauts can return to the moon.
Built on the scale of a Godzilla movie, CT-2’s top deck spans an area bigger than a Major League Baseball diamond. The goliath machine creeps along at a leisurely 0.82 mph while transporting NASA’s huge, 322-foot-tall Space Launch System moon rocket.
And its four monstrous, thirsty engines devour one gallon of diesel fuel for every 32 feet of travel. Talk about poor mileage — that works out to roughly 165 gallons per mile.
“I call it a combination of a locomotive, a ship and a piece of mining equipment — kind of all those pieces put together in one,” said John Giles, engineering operations manager for NASA’s crawler-transporters.
“It’s an engineer’s dream. Because you have mechanical systems, electrical systems, electronics, hydraulics. There’s always something to do, always something to work on,” Giles said.
Dwarfing a convoy of human-scale vehicles and roughly 35 logistics personnel and security officers on Jan. 17, CT-2 muscled the mighty Artemis II rocket, Orion spacecraft and launch tower along the 4.2-mile trek from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39B.
But during pre-launch testing, faulty components prevented helium from flowing to the rocket's upper stage following NASA's wet dress rehearsal. So the immense eight-tracked crawler rolled the rocket back inside the VAB for repairs on Feb. 25. That creeping return journey took from 9:38 a.m. to about 8 p.m. to complete.
With the rocket issues now resolved, NASA announced that the Artemis II rocket will roll back to pad 39B on March 19, setting up for a possible launch of the four astronauts as early as April 1.
'Greatest piece of equipment in the world'
NASA's crawlers are so enormous that, when they were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, officials added an unusual stipulation. They were listed as structures, not objects.
During a March 2023 ceremony at KSC, Guinness World Records presented NASA personnel a certificate declaring CT-2 as “the heaviest self-powered vehicle.” Top speed while loaded: 1 mph.
“I think this is the greatest piece of equipment in the world. The way it moves, the way it acts, the way we need to repair it. The stress that comes with it, knowing we’re the biggest single-point failure in our return-to-the-moon program,” Giles said, standing near CT-2 as it silently parked in the shadow of the VAB.
“When you’re rolling with a vehicle on board, that’s stressful. You’re carrying an expensive piece of equipment there. And you want to carry it as smoothly as possible, as quickly as possible. So that’s when it’s kind of all-hands-on-deck, all-business,” he said.
NASA’s one-of-a-kind crawler is a Space Race relic that was engineered to move powerhouse Saturn V rockets during the Apollo days. CT-2 and its counterpart, Crawler-Transporter 1, were built by Marion Power Shovel Co. in Marion, Ohio, and assembled and tested at the Cape from 1963-65.
Both crawlers became operational by early 1966. On Aug. 26, 1967, a crawler scooted the first Saturn V to the pad for the uncrewed Apollo 4 mission.
Sometimes called "mighty tortoises," the crawlers — which were originally nicknamed Hans and Franz — continued moving mobile launch towers and spacecraft at KSC throughout the space shuttle era, which wrapped up in 2011.
Giles said CR-2 features an automated hydraulic leveling system that maintains its top deck elevation within a two-inch range. Huge vertical cylinders — four at each corner of the crawler — jack up or down making real-time leveling adjustments.
Crews upgraded CT-2 during the mid-2010s to handle SLS heavy-lift rockets, which clock in larger than the Saturn V. Giles said the beefed-up behemoth can now carry 18 million pounds, while CT-1 is limited to its original 12-million-pound capacity and remains parked at the crawler yard on the other side of the VAB.
Today, Giles said the aging CT-2 remains about 90% original from the Apollo era. Logistics personnel track some 70,000 mechanical parts. During the 12-hour Artemis II rollback, he said problems emerged with a grease pump. Technicians replaced that pump with a brand-new, in-stock model — which was 30 years old.
How do you drive a 6.65-million-pound machine?
Based in Virginia, Amentum provides Artemis II engineering, technicians and systems integration under NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems program. Breanne Rohloff, an Amentum mechanical engineer, is the lone woman on the crawler-driving squad.
Rohloff logged one hourlong driving shift, or "stick time," during the Jan. 17 Artemis II rollout. CR-2 sports a pair of drivers' cabs amid its sprawling industrial layout of engine rooms, pump rooms and a control room.
“It’s a very visible culmination in all of this work ... once you see the rocket on the pad and the crawler back down the slope,” Rohloff said.
At the end of their crawlerway journeys, lasers mounted at the VAB and pad 39B help drivers precisely align and position their monumental payloads within a fraction of an inch.
Sam Dove has worked as an Amentum crawler-transporter engineer since 1987. He is one of three certified crawler test conductors, who direct driving operations like a captain of a ship or a NASCAR crew chief. He said CR-2 performed well during the Artemis II rollout and rollback.
“The program rides on our back, on the crawler-transporter. The crawler, it’s such a great machine. Those folks who designed it: They were giants, is what they were. They were geniuses," Dove said.
"What it performs is just amazing — where you can pick up this vehicle and this mobile launcher and carry it down the crawlerway. That’s a specialized task. Crawler and crew make it look easy. And it’s anything but easy," he said.
Quelle: Florida Today