KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.– Cold temperatures in the Sunshine State have led to a delay in the wet dress rehearsal for NASA’s Artemis II moon launch.
Originally scheduled for Friday, Jan. 30, the dress rehearsal is now set to take place no earlier than Monday, Feb. 2.
“Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida,” NASA said. “Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline.”
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NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft atop a mobile launcher is seen at Launch Complex 39B, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth.
(NASA/Jim Ross / NASA)
NASA said it will wait to set an official date for the 4-person space crew launch until after the wet dress rehearsal can happen.
Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen set to debark on the journey remain in quarantine in Houston, NASA said.
The space agency said the earliest possible date for the Artemis II launch would occur on Sunday, Feb. 8.
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The Artemis II astronaut crew in front of the Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 8, 2023. From left to right: CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christian Hammock Koch. (Image: NASA)
(NASA)
Artemis II takes place on the success of the crewless Artemis I launch in 2022.
The 10-day mission will take four astronauts around the Moon, bringing humans closer to the moon than we’ve been in more than 50 years, NASA said.
The Artemis II delay comes just days after the memorial of the tragic Challenger disaster on Jan. 28, 1986, when the Challenger’s 7-person crew died 73 seconds after liftoff due to an o-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster aggravated by extreme cold weather in Florida before the launch.
NASA will continue monitoring weather conditions leading up to the dress rehearsal.
