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The\u00a0Artemis II\u00a0rocket has reached its launch pad at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space\u00a0Center\u00a0in Florida, United States, ready for\u00a0a\u00a0historic journey. Over the weekend, engineers slowly\u00a0and carefully\u00a0rolled the\u00a0nearly 100-metre-tall\u00a0Space Launch System rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B. The 6.5-km\u00a0journey took around 12 hours and was carried out using NASA\u2019s\u00a0crawler-transporter, which has been moving rockets to launch pads for over 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Standing\u00a0nearly 100\u00a0m\u00a0tall, the Space Launch System will weigh approximately 2.6 million\u00a0kg\u00a0once fully fuelled\u00a0and ready for liftoff. At its top sits the\u00a0Orion spacecraft, bearing the\u00a0ESA and NASA logos\u00a0and designed to carry four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby mission. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight of the Artemis programme and the\u00a0first time\u00a0humans have ventured towards the Moon in over 50 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their journey depends on our\u00a0European Service Module, built by industry from more than 10 countries across Europe. This powerhouse will take over once Orion separates from the rocket, supplying electricity from its four seven-metre long solar arrays, providing air and water for the crew, and performing key propulsion burns during the mission, including the critical trans-lunar injection that sends the spacecraft on its trajectory towards the Moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
European engineers will be at\u00a0mission control\u00a0around the clock, monitoring operations from ESA\u2019s ESTEC site in the Netherlands and alongside NASA teams in the Mision Evaluation Room at the Johnson Space\u00a0Center\u00a0in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The European Service Module\u2019s\u00a0main engine\u00a0carries a unique legacy. Originally flown on six Space Shuttle missions between 2000 and 2002, the engine was refurbished and tested after two decades in storage and installed on the second European Service Module at Airbus in Bremen, Germany, giving this historic piece of hardware a new role in deep-space exploration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next major milestone is the wet dress rehearsal, during which teams will practise fuelling the rocket and running through the launch countdown, bringing Artemis II one step closer to\u00a0launch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n