Nasa's Moon rocket Artemis rolls back to pad for possible April launch

Nasa's giant Moon rocket has returned to its launch pad for a second time, ahead of a mission to send astronauts around the Moon – something not attempted in more than 50 years. The 98m tall Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft made a four mile journey from their assembly building to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The move comes after a problem with the rocket's helium system forced Nasa to abandon a launch attempt in March and return the vehicle indoors for repairs. Engineers say the issue has now been fixed and hope that a series of final tests at the pad will confirm the rocket is ready for an early‑April launch window. At 00:20 local time (04:20 GMT), in darkness, the SLS emerged from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) – one of the largest buildings in the world – and began its slow crawl towards the Atlantic coast. Standing taller than Big Ben's clock tower at nearly 100m, the rocket and its launch platform weigh about 5,000 tonnes. They were carried by Crawler‑Transporter‑2, a low‑slung, tank‑like vehicle on caterpillar tracks that Nasa built in 1965 to inch Saturn V Moon rockets to the pad. Its maximum speed is about 1mph (1.6km/h), and it crawls

Mar 20, 2026 → Mar 20, 2026