Managers wary of “launch fever” as pressure mounts for NASA’s Moon mission

“Sending people aboard the rocket and carrying them around the Moon will be our first move toward a lasting lunar presence,” Honeycutt said. “It’s a 10-day mission with four astronauts traveling farther from Earth than anyone before. We’ll be testing the Orion spacecraft’s life support, navigation, and crew systems in the harsh conditions of deep space, and that will set the stage for future landings.”

NASA’s 322-foot (98-meter) SLS rocket sits inside the Vehicle Assembly Building ahead of its rollout to Launch Complex 39B.

Credit:
NASA/Joel Kowsky

Significant work remains before NASA can clear Artemis II for launch. At the pad, technicians will carry out final checkouts and closeouts before NASA’s launch team convenes in early February for a pivotal practice countdown. During that Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR), Blackwell-Thompson and her team will supervise filling the SLS core stage and upper stage with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants.

The cryogenic fluids, particularly liquid hydrogen, bedeviled the Artemis launch team as NASA readied the Artemis I mission—without astronauts—as the SLS’s inaugural test flight in 2022. Engineers fixed the problems and successfully launched Artemis I in November 2022, and officials will apply those lessons to the Artemis II countdown.

“Artemis I was a shakedown flight, and we learned a great deal getting it to launch,” Blackwell-Thompson said. “The techniques we developed for loading LOX and hydrogen have been incorporated into how we plan to fuel the Artemis II vehicle.”

Choosing the proper launch timing

If the rehearsal goes smoothly, NASA could be positioned to launch Artemis II as early as February 6. That date, however, leaves little room for error. Officials generally have about five days each month when the Moon’s position relative to Earth allows Orion to follow the correct trajectory for reentry and splashdown while minimizing stress on the capsule’s heat shield.

In February, launch opportunities fall on February 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11, with launch windows during the overnight hours in Florida. If the mission doesn’t lift off by February 11, NASA will pause the campaign until the next set of opportunities beginning March 6. The space agency has posted a document listing all available launch dates and times through the end of April.

John Honeycutt, chair of NASA’s Mission Management Team for the Artemis II mission, speaks during a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2026.

Credit:
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

NASA’s leadership is eager to see Artemis II fly. The agency faces competition from China, a reality its former administrator noted during the Biden administration. Now, the Trump administration is urging NASA to achieve a crewed lunar landing by the end of his presidential term on January 20, 2029.

One of Honeycutt’s responsibilities as chair of the Mission Management Team (MMT) is making sure every I is dotted and every T crossed amid the rush of final launch preparations. While Artemis II hardware moves through Florida, the astronauts and flight controllers are finishing their last training and simulations at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“I think I can spot launch fever,” he said Friday.

“As chair of the MMT, my single job is the safe return of Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy. I view that as a duty and a trust, and it’s one I am committed to carrying out.”