Nasa is one step closer to taking astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The space agency moved the rocket towards the launchpad at the US space agency’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday, ahead of the launch window for the Artemis II mission, which opens on February 6.
The 10-day manned mission is set to be the first to travel around the moon and back again since Apollo 17 in 1972, with Nasa’s subsequent Artemis III mission planned to return humans to the lunar surface.
Nasa said Artemis “will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars”.
The space agency’s crawler-transporter 2 vehicle carried the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft on Saturday along the four-mile route from an assembly building to launch pad – a journey that will take up to 12 hours.
Once at the launch pad, engineers in the coming days will prepare SLS and Orion for a rehearsal test that includes loading all the propellants into the rocket.
Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said the mission would fulfil “a promise to the American people that we will return to the moon”.
Mr Isaacman said the moon would be a “perfect proving ground” for autonomous capabilities within spacecraft.
Speaking at a press conference at the Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday, the billionaire entrepreneur added: “We talk about building a moon base.
“Now, day one of the moon base is not going to look like this glass-enclosed dome city that we might imagine some day.
“That’s certainly what the ideal end state would be. But it’s probably a lot of rovers that are moving around, a lot of autonomous rovers that are experimenting with mining, or some mineral extraction capabilities to start.
“Naturally, in terms of what we want to achieve in space, you’re going to incorporate more autonomy in our robotic missions.
“We’re looking at a mission to Venus right now that could have some onboard AI capabilities in it.
“So this is the way we’re going to go. But I tell you, if humans are on a spacecraft, they’ll always have a vote, they always have a say in it.”
The Artemis II mission crew consists of Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Mr Hansen said the mission was “good for humanity”, adding that he had previously taken the moon “for granted”.
The Canadian former fighter pilot added: “But now I’ve been staring at it a lot more. And I think others are going to join us in staring at the moon a lot more as there are humans flying around the far side.”
Ms Koch said: “As astronauts, one of the qualities that we talk about a lot is adaptability.
“This idea that, yes, you train and prepare for everything, but the most important thing is that you’re ready to take on what you haven’t prepared for.”
The astronaut added: “The moon is like a witness plate for everything that’s actually happened to Earth but has since been erased by our weathering processes and our tectonic processes and our other geologic processes.
“We can actually learn more about solar system formation, more about how planets form maybe around other stars, more about the likelihood of life out there – starting with studying the moon.”
The mission will see Orion splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, and the spacecraft and crew will be recovered with the help of the US Navy.
