The NASA Artemis II mission is targeted for launch as early as Feb.
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Here are a few vital specs of the unique NASA crawler-transporter vehicles. No other vehicle comes close.
Each CT is larger than the size of a baseball infield and powered by locomotive and large electrical power generator engines.
The crawlers are designed to roll underneath the mobile launcher (ML) along with assembled rocket, pick it up, and steadily carry it 4.2 miles to Launch Pad 39B.
@AkaSci but Bagger-288 is about 5 times heavier and has its own techno song. Yeah!l
https://youtu.be/azEvfD4C6ow
(note: there are 2 even bigger machines out there) -
Quite a sight as the massive Artemis II assembly - the Crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2), mobile launcher, the NASA SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft - marches from the VAB to launch pad 39B at the KSC.
Large number of staff members and spectators watching the historical moment.
Almost 9 hours after the start of its epic journey, NASA Artemis II and its SLS rocket assembly aboard crawler-transporter 2 (aka CT-2 and Franz) are perched at the base of launch pad 39B, ready to make the final challenging ascent up the 2.9 degree ramp to the launch pad.
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Almost 9 hours after the start of its epic journey, NASA Artemis II and its SLS rocket assembly aboard crawler-transporter 2 (aka CT-2 and Franz) are perched at the base of launch pad 39B, ready to make the final challenging ascent up the 2.9 degree ramp to the launch pad.
Few more pics from NASA of the day's events at the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket aboard crawler-transporter 2 at KSC in FL.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/
17/n -
Few more pics from NASA of the day's events at the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket aboard crawler-transporter 2 at KSC in FL.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/
17/nStanding tall!
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen at KSC today, ready to fly Artemis II SLS and Orion on Feb 6, 2026, for a trip around the moon.
https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20260117-PH-KLS03_0048
Photographer: NASA/Kim Shiflett
18/n -
Standing tall!
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen at KSC today, ready to fly Artemis II SLS and Orion on Feb 6, 2026, for a trip around the moon.
https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20260117-PH-KLS03_0048
Photographer: NASA/Kim Shiflett
18/nThe future of Space Exploration.
🪐
https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20260117-PH-KLS03_0026
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
19/n -
Almost 9 hours after the start of its epic journey, NASA Artemis II and its SLS rocket assembly aboard crawler-transporter 2 (aka CT-2 and Franz) are perched at the base of launch pad 39B, ready to make the final challenging ascent up the 2.9 degree ramp to the launch pad.
@AkaSci I wonder why so slow? The shuttle stack used to make the same journey in about half that time.
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@AkaSci I wonder why so slow? The shuttle stack used to make the same journey in about half that time.
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Few more pics from NASA of the day's events at the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket aboard crawler-transporter 2 at KSC in FL.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/
17/nLove the "DRIVE SAFELY" sign.
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Few more pics from NASA of the day's events at the rollout of the Artemis II SLS rocket aboard crawler-transporter 2 at KSC in FL.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/
17/nThese astronauts are very brave, riding an untested rocket in a often-failed capsule all the way to there and back, and trusting a very dodgy heat shield.
It'll be just like Capricorn One, if they're not careful.
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The future of Space Exploration.
🪐
https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-20260117-PH-KLS03_0026
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
19/nGood Night, Artemis II.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/with/55046879173/
20/n -
Good Night, Artemis II.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/albums/72177720331471551/with/55046879173/
20/nRE: https://fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/115913141957128715
Our exploration, our love of science and our willingness to go to the moon, not because it was easy, but because it was hard, and to lay a plaque that said "we came in peace, for all mankind."
These are the reasons that people around the world enthusiastically wear a US Government agency logo.
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@grb090423
Yes indeed.
ESM = European Service Module.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Service_Module -
Good Morning, Artemis II.
12/n@markmccaughrean
^^^
You will appreciate the framing of this photograph above (post #12), taken by NASA astronaut and Commander Reid Wiseman, of the Artemis II SLS stack with the European Service Module (ESM) departing the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, FL. -
@markmccaughrean
^^^
You will appreciate the framing of this photograph above (post #12), taken by NASA astronaut and Commander Reid Wiseman, of the Artemis II SLS stack with the European Service Module (ESM) departing the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, FL.@AkaSci Well, you’ve got to get it out the door somehow
To be honest though, I’m deeply unexcited by Artemis. Almost sixty years after Apollo & despite all the huge developments in tech & computing since, it has a ridiculously slow cadence to repeat essentially the same feat: for reference, all of Apollo 8, 9, 10, & 11 happened within a 7 month period
. And the joint architecture with SpaceX for actually landing on the Moon is completely bananas. -
@AkaSci Well, you’ve got to get it out the door somehow
To be honest though, I’m deeply unexcited by Artemis. Almost sixty years after Apollo & despite all the huge developments in tech & computing since, it has a ridiculously slow cadence to repeat essentially the same feat: for reference, all of Apollo 8, 9, 10, & 11 happened within a 7 month period
. And the joint architecture with SpaceX for actually landing on the Moon is completely bananas.@AkaSci Add to that the current political background, & I’m struggling to conjure much enthusiasm.
I don’t mean to take anything away from the engineers & astronauts who achieved a miracle in the 1960s or those doing it again today, but it’s not taking place in a vacuum.
Of course, Apollo also took place in a dark & dangerous time of superpower struggle & as a direct product of it, but I was just a kid then – now I hope I know better.
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@AkaSci Add to that the current political background, & I’m struggling to conjure much enthusiasm.
I don’t mean to take anything away from the engineers & astronauts who achieved a miracle in the 1960s or those doing it again today, but it’s not taking place in a vacuum.
Of course, Apollo also took place in a dark & dangerous time of superpower struggle & as a direct product of it, but I was just a kid then – now I hope I know better.
@AkaSci Personally, I find it quite disappointing that so many of my friends & colleagues in the space bubble choose to ignore the political environment that surrounds their “hobby”.
Particularly today, given that space is also the hobby of some of the richest individuals on the planet, people who fund the neo-fascists in power, & whose other businesses manipulate public opinion while trampling all over civil & labour regulations.
<rant mode off>
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@AkaSci Personally, I find it quite disappointing that so many of my friends & colleagues in the space bubble choose to ignore the political environment that surrounds their “hobby”.
Particularly today, given that space is also the hobby of some of the richest individuals on the planet, people who fund the neo-fascists in power, & whose other businesses manipulate public opinion while trampling all over civil & labour regulations.
<rant mode off>
@markmccaughrean
Thanks for your insights and thoughts.If we could somehow eliminate the political and billionaire problems, what would your vision be for the future of space exploration?
- Human exploration of the moon and Mars or robotic only?
- Human spaceflight in LEO?
- Megaconstellations?
- Space mining?
- Robotic exploration of distant planets and moons (again)
- Missions to exoplanets?
- More astronomy and space telescopes?
- More Earth observation missions
- ? -
@AkaSci Personally, I find it quite disappointing that so many of my friends & colleagues in the space bubble choose to ignore the political environment that surrounds their “hobby”.
Particularly today, given that space is also the hobby of some of the richest individuals on the planet, people who fund the neo-fascists in power, & whose other businesses manipulate public opinion while trampling all over civil & labour regulations.
<rant mode off>
@markmccaughrean @AkaSci I fully agree with you.
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@markmccaughrean
Thanks for your insights and thoughts.If we could somehow eliminate the political and billionaire problems, what would your vision be for the future of space exploration?
- Human exploration of the moon and Mars or robotic only?
- Human spaceflight in LEO?
- Megaconstellations?
- Space mining?
- Robotic exploration of distant planets and moons (again)
- Missions to exoplanets?
- More astronomy and space telescopes?
- More Earth observation missions
- ?@AkaSci @markmccaughrean mega constellations are the pet projects of billionaires that dream of controlling how we connect to the internet (and also, btw, yet another method of spying on the position of anyone with a cell phone) with mega tons of space junk that increases the risk of in orbit collisions and atmospheric pollution, while hurting all forms of optical and radio astronomy. Not sure it's a good thing for the "future of space exploration"...
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@grb090423
Yes indeed.
ESM = European Service Module.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Service_Module@AkaSci @grb090423 you saw Bremen‘s Space contribution at best
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