NASA hopes to launch Artemis 2 astronauts to the moon next month, but it's going to be tight: 'This is not a rush'

Four people in orange spacesuits stand on a road.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA is about to roll its massive new Artemis 2 moon rocket out to the launch pad.

Artemis 2's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is expected to roll out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) tomorrow morning (Jan. 17) around 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT). It's roughly 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from the VAB to Launch Complex-39B, which the rocket will traverse over eight to 10 hours aboard the agency's Crawler-Transporter 2 vehicle.