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Artemis II Rocket Rolls to Pad for Final Checks Ahead of April 1 Crew Flight

NASA reports the stack returned to the pad after helium-system repairs with space-weather conditions under close watch.

Overview

  • The repaired SLS/Orion stack reached Launch Complex 39B after a 6–6.4 km rollout on Crawler-Transporter 2 that took roughly 10–12 hours.
  • NASA kept the no-earlier-than April 1 target for the roughly 10-day lunar flyby, pending pad checkouts and standard technical and weather reviews.
  • Engineers addressed a February fault that blocked helium flow to the upper stage and performed battery swaps, seal replacements and umbilical re-tests in the VAB.
  • Space-weather researchers flagged heightened solar activity as a potential risk, and NASA says it will watch conditions continuously without changing the schedule for now.
  • The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen—will fly a free-return trajectory around the Moon before a Pacific splashdown.