Enlarge / NASA's Space Launch System rocket, reflected in the turn basin at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, rolls out for a fourth attempt at a wet dress rehearsal on June 6, 2022. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

It's actually happening. NASA is finally set to launch its massive Space Launch System rocket, and barring catastrophe, the Orion spacecraft is going to fly to the Moon and back.

The space agency's final pre-launch preparations for this Artemis I mission are going so well, in fact, that NASA now plans to roll the rocket to Launch Pad 39B as soon as Tuesday, August 16, at 9 pm ET (01:00 UTC Wednesday). This is two days ahead of the previously announced rollout schedule.

This earlier date for the rocket's rollout follows completion of a flight termination system test over the weekend. This was the final major test of the launch system and spacecraft prior to rollout and marks the completion of all major pre-launch activities. NASA continues to target three dates to attempt the Artemis I launch: August 29, September 2, and September 5.

Enlarge / NASA's Space Launch System rocket is seen on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in April. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

NASA officials said Wednesday that the space agency continues to make progress preparing the massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for a launch later this summer. Moreover, they now have enough confidence to set a launch date: August 29.

Under the agency's current plans, the stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will roll out to its launch site at Kennedy Space Center on August 18. Then, there would be three opportunities—August 29, September 2, and September 5—to launch the vehicle before the window closes.

"These are the dates we are working toward today," said Jim Free, the chief of NASA's human exploration systems development program.

Enlarge / The Space Launch System rocket will be back to the Vehicle Assembly Building this week. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

The US space agency has spent a long, long time designing, developing, building, and testing the Space Launch System rocket. When NASA created the rocket program in 2010, US legislators said the SLS booster should be ready to launch in 2016.

Of course, that launch target and many others have come and gone. But now, after more than a decade and more than $20 billion in funding, NASA and its litany of contractors are very close to declaring the 111-meter tall rocket ready for its debut launch.

On June 20, NASA successfully counted the rocket down to T-29 seconds during a pre-launch fueling test. Although they did not reach T-9 seconds, as was the original goal, the agency's engineers collected enough data to satisfy the requisite information to proceed toward a launch.

Enlarge / NASA's Space Launch System rocket, reflected in the turn basin at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, rolls out for a fourth attempt at a wet dress rehearsal on June 6, 2022. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

NASA tried three times during the month of April to complete a critical fueling test of its large Space Launch System rocket. And three times, due to about half a dozen technical problems, the space agency failed.

And so NASA made the difficult decision to roll the large rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs, adding a couple of months of delays to a program already years behind schedule. After this work was complete in early June, NASA rolled the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft back out to the launch pad for a fourth try.

The painful decision turned out to be the correct one. Over the course of more than 14 hours on Monday, NASA largely succeeded in completing this fueling test, loading hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the first and second stages of the SLS rocket.

Enlarge / NASA's SLS rocket is seen at sunrise on June 7, 2022, after its second trip to the launch site. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

NASA has been attempting to conduct a critical fueling test of its Space Launch System rocket for nearly three months, and now the agency says it is ready to try again.

This will be NASA's fourth attempt to load the SLS rocket's first and second stages with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and go deep into a countdown toward launch before ending the test at T-10 seconds. The space agency plans to call its team of engineers and technicians to their stations on Saturday evening and begin fueling operations on Monday morning, June 20.

"Our team is ready to go," said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA's launch director for the Artemis I mission, which represents a test flight for the SLS vehicle and Orion spacecraft. "We're really looking forward to getting back to this test and getting into it starting on Saturday evening and certainly looking forward to the tanking operation."