The Artemis II rocket and spacecraft took nearly 12 hours to crawl four miles to their launchpad at less than 1 mph—then, after carrying four astronauts around the Moon, the Orion capsule returned to

Artemis II's first four-mile rollout took nearly 12 hours at no more than 0.82 mph. Orion later met Earth's atmosphere near 25,000 mph before its heat shield and parachutes slowed the crew for splashdown. The widest speed range in the Artemis II mission began before the rocket ever left the ground. On 17 January 2026, NASA’s fully assembled Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and mobile launcher moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Lau... [5711 chars]