NASA to roll out 11 million-pound moon rocket in preparation for astronauts’ launch

NASA will launch a 322-foot-tall rocket toward the launch pad on Saturday, a key milestone as the agency prepares for a long-awaited mission to send four astronauts around the Moon.

The Space Launch System rocket, topped with the Orion capsule, which will carry the astronauts, is expected to make the slow 6 km journey from NASA’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building – where the rocket’s various components were assembled – to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, starting at 7 a.m. ET. NASA will broadcast the event, known as a “rollout,” live on its YouTube channel.

The event will kick off a series of tests and dress rehearsals that, if successful, will take the agency to final preparations for its first crewed flight to the Moon in more than 50 years. The mission, known as Artemis II, could take off between February 6 and 11, although launch windows are also available in March and April.

The deployment is a key step for mission leaders to assess the health and safety of the booster before NASA leaders finally set an official launch date.

“These are the kind of days we live for,” John Honeycutt, chairman of the Artemis II mission management team, said during a press briefing Friday.

The Artemis II mission plan calls for four crew members – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen – to spend 10 days in space, first traveling around the Earth and then entering orbit around the Moon.

The deployment on Saturday could last up to 12 hours. A massive mobile platform known as a tracked transporter will transport the 11 million pound Artemis II rocket to NASA’s historic Launch Pad 39B, which was also used during the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.

The stacked carrier will move at a careful snail’s pace of about 1 mile per hour, according to NASA.

Once the rocket arrives at the launch pad, crews will begin preparations for an upcoming launch day tour, known as a wet dress rehearsal. During this event, NASA fuels the rocket and performs all the standard procedures that would occur on liftoff day, until T minus 29 seconds countdown, according to Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

“Launch day will be quite similar to a wet dress,” she said. “There will be two big differences: one is that we’re going to send the crew onto the platform, and the other is that we’re not going to stop at 29 seconds.”

The wet dress rehearsal will allow mission leaders to evaluate how the rocket’s systems work together in real-world environments and give engineers the opportunity to check for fuel leaks or other technical issues.

If problems arise, the rocket will need to be taken back to the vehicle assembly building for additional work. But if all goes well, NASA could soon announce its planned launch date.

The Artemis II flight will be the most rigorous test ever for the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft – the first time the system will carry a crew.

While flying inside the Orion capsule, astronauts are expected to conduct tests of the spacecraft’s docking capabilities and life support systems as it orbits the Earth and Moon.

A successful mission will set the stage for the Artemis III flight, planned for 2027, which will land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole.

Returning to the Moon is a priority for President Donald Trump, especially as a new space race intensifies between the United States and China. Chinese authorities have announced plans to send their own astronauts to the Moon by 2030.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com