NASA Rolls Out Artemis II SLS–Orion Stack for February Crewed Lunar Orbit Mission
NASA on Jan. 17 rolled the fully integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft out of the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, a roughly 4‑mile move that can take up to 12 hours and marks the final pad campaign before the Artemis II crewed lunar‑orbit mission. The 11‑million‑pound stack will carry astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a roughly 10‑day flight that will first orbit Earth and then loop around the Moon as early as Feb. 6, pending vehicle and team readiness. NASA leadership framed the rollout as the start of a long‑term architecture meant to enable "repeatable, affordable" missions to and from the Moon and ultimately crewed trips to Mars, building on the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022. The mission will be the first time Americans travel to the vicinity of the Moon in more than 50 years, a milestone drawing heavy public interest and debate online over the program’s multibillion‑dollar cost, reliance on the SLS mega‑rocket versus commercial systems, and what tangible scientific and economic returns the Artemis campaign will deliver. Supporters argue that Artemis II is essential to proving out deep‑space life‑support, navigation and re‑entry systems before a surface landing, while critics see it as an expensive legacy rocket architecture competing with faster‑moving private efforts.
📌 Key Facts
- On Jan. 17, 2026, NASA rolled the Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center.
- The integrated SLS–Orion stack weighs about 11 million pounds and travels roughly four miles to the pad on a crawler, a trip NASA says can take up to 12 hours.
- Artemis II, targeting launch as early as Feb. 6, will send astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen on a ~10‑day mission orbiting Earth and then looping around the Moon.
- Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis program and the first time U.S. astronauts travel to the Moon’s vicinity in more than five decades, intended as a precursor to future lunar landings and eventual Mars missions.
📊 Relevant Data
Out of more than 360 U.S. astronauts to date, only about 70 have been women, representing less than 20% of the total.
NASA hit by DEI dismantling of hard-fought inclusion efforts — Florida Today
NASA's 2025 astronaut candidate class includes no Black recruits, marking the first time in 40 years without Black representation in a new class.
NASA astronaut class appears to be first without Black recruits in 40 years — Yahoo News
In NASA's science and technical workforce, women make up 25% and racial minorities 26% as of 2023.
NASA's Efforts to Increase Diversity in Its Workforce — NASA Office of Inspector General
In U.S. fourth-grade mathematics, White students score 29 points higher on average than Black students on the NAEP, with the gap widening post-2020 due to larger score declines among Black students (13 points) compared to White students (6 points).
NAEP Mathematics: National Student Group Scores and Score Gaps — National Assessment of Educational Progress
Gender gaps in middle school STEM achievement have widened post-2020, with boys outperforming girls in math and science on NWEA assessments, reversing pre-pandemic trends where gaps were narrower.
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