Nasa’s Moon rocket Artemis rolls back to pad for possible April launch. 3 hours ago. Pallab GhoshScience correspondent. Getty Images. Nasa is rolling out its giant Moon rocket to the launch pad for a second time, ahead of a mission to send astronauts around the Moon – something not attempted in more than 50 years.. The 98m tall Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft are making the four mile journey from their assembly building to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.. The move comes after a problem with the rocket’s helium system forced Nasa to abandon a launch attempt in March and return the vehicle indoors for repairs.. Engineers say the issue has now been fixed and hope that a series of final tests at the pad will confirm the rocket is ready for an early‑April launch window.. Just after nightfall, the SLS emerged from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) – one of the largest buildings in the world – and began its slow crawl towards the Atlantic coast.. Standing taller than Big Ben’s clock tower at nearly 100m, the rocket and its launch platform weigh about 5,000 tonnes. They are being carried by Crawler‑Transporter‑2, a low‑slung, tank‑like vehicle on caterpillar tracks that Nasa built in 1965 to inch Saturn V Moon rockets to the pad.. Its maximum speed is about 1mph (1.6km/h), and it crawls even more slowly on bends and up the gentle ramp to the launch pad, so the four‑mile journey can take up to 12 hours.. The snail’s pace is intentional: as if carrying a precious Ming vase, the slow, gentle motion reduces stresses on the multi‑billion‑dollar rocket and launch tower. The slow speed also gives flight teams the best chance of spotting and stopping any unwelcome movement of what is in effect a mobile skyscraper.. NASA. Once the rocket reaches the pad, engineers will spend several days checking that the repairs carried out in th VAB have worked as intended and that nothing has shifted during the slow journey out. They will plug the launch tower back into the vehicle, run pressure tests on the helium system that caused the earlier problem.. Controllers will also rehearse parts of the countdown, sending commands through the same computers and networks that will be used on launch day, but without filling the tanks with fuel.. Once those tests are complete, Nasa’s mission management team will meet a few days before the earliest launch opportunity on 1 April to review the data and decide whether to proceed.. When does the Nasa Moon mission launch and who are the Artemis II crew?. Artemis II: Nasa targets early April for Moon mission. Nasa announces change to its Moon landing plans. The Artemis II crew – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – have entered pre flight quarantine and will travel to Florida closer to launch to take part in various rehearsals, including suiting up and travelling to the pad. Nasa is working towards launch opportunities in the first week of April for the ten
