NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After over 4 hours of delays due to continuing high winds all day Thursday, March 19, NASA at last began the rollout operations of the agency’s Artemis II SLS Moon rocket and Orion spacecraft for the 2nd time from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) back out to launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The exciting rollout took place at last came at last after a few weeks of necessary and critical repairs on the rocket inside the VAB to fix the helium flow clog that scrubbed plans to launch the rocket in early March.
NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com
The rollout was then further postponed by excessive high winds at the VAB doors that propelled huge 4’ x 8’ sheets of plywood to fly dangerously at the VAB exit floor with the workers and that could have caused injurt to the team and the rocket.
The plywood sheets are placed on the concrete over lips by the VAB exit floor to prevent damage to the crawler shoes and the concrete floor. They are also placed on the groud at several vulnerable spots along the crawlerway
Enjoy our sequence of VAB rollout photos of the Artemis II mega moon rocket taken by Ken Kremer for Space UpClose
Around noontime March 19, I was upclose with the Artemis II moon rocket inside the VAB on level 16 in High Bay 16 as we media were kindly afforded the opportunity to set remote cameras to catch the rollout later that evening – which ultimately started just past midnight, Friday, March 20.
All work platforms had been retracted from around the 321-foot-tall Artemis II SLS mega moon rocket and Orion crew spacecraft.
The 4-mile trek at max speed of ca 0.8 mph takes about 12 hours as the Crawler-Transporter-2 (CT-2) moves the 11 million pounds mass stack of SLS and Orion secured to the mobile launcher from the VAB to top of pad 39B at KSC
I was also interviewed live by Fox 35 Orlando at 11:30 am ET March 19, about updating the status of NASA Artemis II rollout from VAB to launch pad 39B – as the winds were howling on the Florida Space Coast, just abit below the weather criteria limit of 40 knots
Could NASA’s Artemis 2 rollout get delayed again? NASA engineers are targeting tonight at 8 PM [Mar 16, 2026] to roll the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. The Artemis crew entered quarantine last night to prepare for a launch next month. Ken Kremer, Managing Editor of Space UpClose joins FOX 35’s Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to preview NASA’s rollout and the odds of a successful string of events before the launch window opens next month. video: https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/fmc-vihrm1hbp25zq1hj. Credit: Fox 35 Orlando/Screenshot: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpclose.comLaunch of Artemis II is targeted for as early as Wednesday, April 1.
The early April launch window includes a total of six opportunities every day through Monday, April 6.
NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft mega moon rocket for the Artemis II crewed moonshot mission completed its rollback from launch pad 39B into the VAB where it arrived inside late evening Feb. 25, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida – to fix the helium flow interruption issue detected in the ICPS upper stage during testing overnight Feb. 21 at Launch Complex 39B.
NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.comNASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.comNASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.comNASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building began rollout to Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12;20 a.m. March 20, 2026. View from remote camera on level 16 in High Bay 4 inside the VAB set by Ken Kremer. Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics. Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After a few weeks of necessary and critical repairs inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), NASA is at last ready to roll the agency’s Artemis II Moon rocket back out to launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the 2nd time on Thursday, March 19 Rollout #2 is currently scheduled to start later
CAPE CANAVERAL/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – On March 19, 2026 I was interviewed live by Fox 35 Orlando about updating the status on NASA Artemis II rollout from VAB to launch pad39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center that was scheduled to start later in the evening that day at about 8 p.m. ET. At the time of the interview at
