Artemis 2 crew completes first full countdown rehearsal
NASA’s four‑person Artemis 2 crew strapped into their Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building this weekend for a full dress‑rehearsal countdown, running launch‑day procedures down to less than a minute before liftoff. Despite multiple holds in the complex test, commander Reid Wiseman called the day "extremely successful" as NASA weighs a tight early‑February 2026 launch window — with five opportunities starting Feb. 6 and a likely mid‑January rollout to pad 39B — against the possibility of slipping the first crewed lunar flyby to early March. The rehearsal also previews a 25‑hour initial Earth orbit to test life‑support, propulsion and rendezvous maneuvers before the mission sends the crew on a free‑return trajectory around the moon and back to a Pacific splashdown, marking the first human trip to the lunar vicinity since Apollo 17.
📌 Key Facts
- All four Artemis 2 astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen — conducted a dress‑rehearsal countdown inside their Orion spacecraft this weekend at Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building.
- The team practiced full launch‑day procedures, working with launch controllers down to less than one minute before simulated liftoff, with NASA’s countdown clock showing repeated stops and starts during the complex test.
- NASA is targeting an early‑February 2026 launch with five available dates starting Feb. 6 but, given remaining work including a mid‑January rollout and a critical fueling test at pad 39B, may delay the mission to early March.
- The flight plan calls for a 25‑hour elliptical Earth orbit to test Orion’s life‑support, propulsion, navigation and rendezvous capabilities before sending the crew on a free‑return loop around the moon for the first piloted lunar journey since 1972.
📊 Relevant Data
All 24 astronauts who have traveled to the moon during the Apollo missions were White American men.
NASA has flown 24 white American men to the moon. Now it's finally sending a woman and a Black astronaut. — Yahoo News
As of 2023, 18 Black astronauts have flown in space, representing approximately 5% of all U.S. astronauts who have flown, compared to Black Americans comprising 13.6% of the U.S. population.
Black astronauts celebrate ISS, Artemis 2 moon missions ... — Space.com
As of November 2024, NASA has selected 360 astronaut candidates since inception: 299 men and 61 women, meaning women constitute approximately 17% of selected candidates.
Astronaut Fact Book — NASA
In 2021, men outnumbered women approximately 2.75 to 1 in science and engineering occupations in the U.S.
Representation of Demographic Groups in STEM — National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES)
According to 2023 data, Black students comprise 4.3% of those receiving engineering degrees in the U.S., while they make up 13.6% of the population.
U.S. Degree Attainment — Society of Women Engineers