Frigid weather could cut into Artemis II's February launch chances

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Jan 29, 2026

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ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA had planned to run its wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis II mission at Florida's Kennedy Space Center as early as Saturday, but it will have to thread the needle before temperatures drop below the agency’s limits for the tanking test. Any delays could cut into February launch opportunities for what would be the first crewed launch of the Artemis program.

If NASA can’t get the test off Saturday, it will face overnight temperatures that will drop into the 20s by Saturday night and the 30s on Sunday. Temperatures begin to climb back above lows of 40 beginning Monday night, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

The agency’s basic weather launch criteria at the pad for liftoff states it should not initiate tanking if the 24-hour average temperature at both 132.5 feet and 257.5 feet, where temperatures are cooler than on ground level, is less than 41.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft atop the mobile launcher at the pad is 322 feet tall.

Already this week, technicians took steps to make sure environmental control systems kept the hardware safe from the cold. It rolled from KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39-B on Jan. 17.

While not launching, the wet dress rehearsal does intend to run Artemis II through a complete countdown bringing the clock down to T-30 seconds. But most important is that teams will load SLS and Orion with more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant.

The original target had been to perform the wet dress rehearsal no later than Feb. 2, but teams had sped up pad checkouts so the Saturday opportunity arose. That was before the prediction of cold weather.

The goal is to complete the test and sign off on the rocket and spacecraft’s readiness at the pad to set up a possible launch as early as Feb. 6. Additional opportunities fall on Feb. 7, 8, 10 and 11. The next launch window would offer options on March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. The last of the launch windows announced so far includes April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The timeline for the wet dress, which includes unloading the propellant, is to begin 49 hours ahead of a target launch time of 9 p.m., although that target could be as last a 1 a.m. depending.

It’s possible the results of the test may require NASA to roll the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. But if all goes well, NASA could announce a target launch date.

The four astronauts already entered quarantine last Friday, two weeks out from the initial launch opportunity.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, will be the first humans to ride in the Orion spacecraft, which they have named Integrity. The mission aims to send them on about a 10-day mission on a lunar flyby that will venture out farther from Earth than any human has ever traveled before.

The goal is to ensure Orion can support humans for future Artemis missions. Artemis III looks to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

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