NASAs aging crawler is about to haul 18 million pounds on its back, again

After more than five weeks of sitting on its Florida launchpad, the Artemis II rocket will head back to its hangar for some unanticipated repairs, without having launched to the moon. 

As long as the weather holds up, NASA is targeting 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, for the move to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Four miles may seem like a short trip, but when billions of dollars' worth of hardware are at stake, every inch can feel like an eternity.