Space Exploration and National Security

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.