Big Rocket from NASA Arrives at Launchpad. Moon is the next stop.
NASA's big moon rocket rolled out to the launch pad for the third time — and it's on its way to the moon.
The Space Launch System rocket has been parked in a building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the past month and a half.
The move from the building to the launchpad was originally scheduled for Thursday, but NASA announced on Monday that it had been pushed back to Tuesday evening.
What happened during the rollout?
Around 10 p.m. Eastern time, the rocket began to move. The transportation operation began about an hour late due to weather in the area, including lightning.
The rocket arrived around 7:30 a.m. after travelling through the night, in front of a large banner reading "WE ARE GOING!"
Distance between NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building and launchpad, known as Launch Complex 39B, is approximately 4.2 miles. Pad was first used by NASA during the Apollo programme in the 1960s.
Rocket and launch tower were transported on a massive vehicle known as a crawler-transporter. It's the same vehicle that transported the Saturn V to the moon, but it's been renovated and upgraded.
It moves at up to 1 mile per hour over a gravel path to the launch site, covering an area larger than a baseball infield and carrying up to 18 million pounds.
Final preparations will be made by technicians, including connecting power and propellant lines to the rocket and the launch tower.
The Artemis I launch date has not changed, despite the earlier rollout: Monday, August 29 at 8:33 a.m. Eastern time.