Attention is fixed on the artemis 2 launch date as NASA’s SLS and Orion stack now sits at Launch Pad 39B, with a launch opportunity as early as April 1 ET and an early-April window through April 6 ET. The mission will send four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the Moon and back, covering more than half a million miles. The move to the pad marks the start of final prelaunch preparations that will determine whether the artemis 2 launch date holds.
Artemis 2 Launch Date: Pad arrival and timeline
The integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft completed an 11-hour move from the Vehicle Assembly Building and arrived at Launch Pad 39B at 11: 21 a. m. ET on March 20. The mobile crawler began the nearly 4-mile transfer at 12: 20 a. m. ET and carried the 322-foot (98-meter) stack at a maximum speed of 0. 82 mph. With the stack at the pad, NASA teams are now focused on the artemis 2 launch date, aiming for a launch as soon as Wednesday, April 1, with opportunities through Monday, April 6 ET.
The SLS is the agency’s most powerful rocket, standing 98 meters tall and featuring two large solid rocket boosters and four core engines. Its orange core stage holds more than three million liters of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Orion spacecraft sits atop the rocket; in the event of a serious early-flight anomaly, the Launch Abort System at the top of the stack is intended to pull the crewed capsule away to safety. The arrival at Pad 39B signals the transition into the final stretch of prelaunch checks that will confirm whether the projected artemis 2 launch date can be met.
Crew, mission profile and risks
Four astronauts will fly on this mission: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen. The crew has trained together for more than two years. The flight profile is a roughly 10-day lunar flyaround that will take the team farther from Earth than humans have traveled in decades and cover a distance of more than half a million miles.
The mission carries heightened risk: the crew will ride in a spacecraft never before flown with people on board, and they will spend the mission cramped in a vehicle about the size of a minibus. Mission planners and the astronauts have acknowledged that everything must go precisely right during launch and in subsequent operations to meet the planned artemis 2 launch date and complete the 10-day return safely.
What’s next and the immediate road to launch
With the rocket at Pad 39B, teams will run final systems checks, closeouts and countdown rehearsals to prepare for the targeted launch window starting April 1 ET. The next visible milestones will be final pad integrations and readiness reviews that will decide whether the planned artemis 2 launch date is confirmed. If issues arise during these prelaunch activities, the timeline will be adjusted; if checks proceed cleanly, the mission will press toward the early-April opportunities through April 6 ET.
As of 11: 21 a. m. ET on March 20 the stack is in place and preparations are underway; the coming days of testing and review will determine whether the artemis 2 launch date stands and whether this crewed lunar flyaround will proceed on the schedule now in view.
