After months of detailed preparation, NASA has taken a major step toward returning humans to deep space by rolling out its towering Space Launch System rocket to the launch pad in Florida. The massive booster, standing 322 feet tall and stacked with the Orion spacecraft, was transported Saturday from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center.

The slow, four-mile journey marks a critical milestone for the Artemis II mission, NASA’s first crewed flight under the Artemis program. The mission is currently targeted for late February and will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, testing spacecraft systems in deep space before future lunar landings.

The Space Launch System is the most powerful operational rocket in the world, designed to carry astronauts and heavy cargo beyond Earth orbit. Its rollout signals that NASA is entering the final stages of preparation for a mission that will push human spaceflight farther than it has gone in more than five decades.

Artemis II will be commanded by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, with Victor Glover serving as pilot and Christina Koch as mission specialist. Joining them is Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, making this the first time a non-American astronaut will fly on a mission beyond low Earth orbit. Together, the crew will conduct a lunar flyby, looping around the Moon without landing.

This mission will be the first time humans travel to lunar distance since Apollo 17 in 1972. During the flight, astronauts will evaluate Orion’s life-support systems, navigation, communications, and heat shield performance, all of which are essential for future missions that aim to land astronauts on the Moon and eventually push toward Mars.

The rollout of the SLS rocket underscores NASA’s renewed focus on exploration and American leadership in space. As Artemis II approaches launch readiness, the mission represents a bridge between past achievements and the next era of human exploration beyond Earth.