The rocket and spacecraft that will perform the first human spaceflight to the vicinity of the Moon since December 1972 rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, Jan. 17. The Orion spacecraft and its associated Space Launch System rocket, mounted on its mobile launch platform, started its rollout with first motion at 7:04 am EST (12:04 UTC).
This flight is only the second mission for SLS, and its first flight with crew. Artemis II’s four-person crew will fly the Orion spacecraft, which they named Integrity, on a 10-day mission to loop around the Moon and return to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific off the coast of California.