BACK TO THE MOON: Artemis 2 SLS Rocket Is Ready, and NASA’s Crewed Lunar Mission May Launch as Soon as April 1st

Humans haven’t been to the moon or its orbit since 1972 – but now, the time has come to return.

In the runup to launch last month, the SLS rocket presented issues that led it to be carted back to the assembly building for further work on it.

But now, everything seems to be ready for the greatest Space adventure of the 21^st century.

NASA teams have polled ‘go’ to proceed toward Artemis II’s launch around the Moon.

We’re targeting March 19 to roll the rocket out to the launchpad at @NASAKennedy in advance of a launch attempt on April 1, pending completion of work at the pad: https://t.co/B58YibEjYI pic.twitter.com/vSVV6wx5No

— NASA (@NASA) March 12, 2026

Space.com reported:

“Artemis 2 managers met over the past two days, conducting the mission’s flight readiness review (FRR) ahead of rolling its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule back to the launch pad for liftoff. Repairs to the SLS were recently completed inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where ground teams will now prepare the vehicle for transportation to KSC’s Launch Complex-39B.”

The rocket and the Orion capsule are expected to be rolled out to the launch pad on March 19, with NASA targeting a launch as soon as April 1.

“’During the flight readiness review, we had extremely thorough discussions — very open, transparent’, Lori Glaze, NASA’s Exploration Systems Development acting associate administrator, said during a post-FRR press briefing today.”

“’We talked a lot about our risk posture and how we’re mitigating those risks’, Glaze said. ‘We reviewed the challenges that we’ve had and how we’ve addressed them, and we talked about the work that remains, what’s left to do, and how we’re going to get through all of that’.

Artemis 2 is NASA’s first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years. It will launch NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft.”

LIVE: Following the conclusion of the Artemis II Flight Readiness Review, we’re sharing the latest updates on our upcoming crewed mission around the Moon. https://t.co/aWOpUspv85

— NASA (@NASA) March 12, 2026

Read more:

ELUSIVE MOON: Artemis II Lunar Mission Delayed Again – SLS Rocket and Orion Capsule May Have To Be Rolled Back to Vehicle Assembly Building

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