NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at Launch Pad 39B

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visits Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida, following the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s arrival at the pad on March 18, 2022. The rocket, with the Orion spacecraft atop, was carried from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad – a 4.2-mile journey that took nearly 11 hours to complete – by the agency’s crawler-transporter 2 for a wet dress rehearsal ahead of the uncrewed Artemis I launch. Artemis I will test SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar surface, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars.