NASA delays Artemis-2 wet dress rehearsal countdown due to weather
NASA today announced it is delaying until February 2, 2026 the wet dress rehearsal countdown of its Artemis-2 mission due to weather concerns.
NASA is targeting Monday, Feb. 2, as the tanking day for the upcoming Artemis II wet dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as a result of weather. With this change, the first potential opportunity to launch is no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 8.
Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida. Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline. Teams and preparations at the launch pad remain ready for the wet dress rehearsal. However, adjusting the timeline for the test will position NASA for success during the rehearsal, as the expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions.
I had previously said this dress rehearsal countdown would include the astronauts inside Orion. This was incorrect. The astronauts are in quarantine in preparation for the actual mission. Orion will be unmanned during the rehearsal countdown.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA today announced it is delaying until February 2, 2026 the wet dress rehearsal countdown of its Artemis-2 mission due to weather concerns.
NASA is targeting Monday, Feb. 2, as the tanking day for the upcoming Artemis II wet dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as a result of weather. With this change, the first potential opportunity to launch is no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 8.
Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida. Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline. Teams and preparations at the launch pad remain ready for the wet dress rehearsal. However, adjusting the timeline for the test will position NASA for success during the rehearsal, as the expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions.
I had previously said this dress rehearsal countdown would include the astronauts inside Orion. This was incorrect. The astronauts are in quarantine in preparation for the actual mission. Orion will be unmanned during the rehearsal countdown.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News


I would like to submit that NASA at least learned something from Challenger, which was to be real careful with big rockets and cold weather. A small win, but a win nonetheless. Cheers –
I don’t think this stems from the shuttle problems so much as its just cold and wet.
If its icing up at night it would make working around outside in the morning quite dangerous. That and the south has NO cold weather gear.
I remember when Austin TX. got 3 inches of show and it was down to 20 degrees. For three days me(Ohio) and my friend(Michigan) were pretty much all that was on the road.
I got pulled over by a cop with chains on his car for speeding, going the posted limit.
Me and Michigan ran around for the first two days pulling people out of ditches with his truck. Southerners can not drive in the snow.
pzatchok…..As the Great Robert B Parker wrote:
” There was nearly an inch of snow accumulated and Washington [DC] was rapidly sinking into hysteria.”
Watching drivers struggle with a coating of snow in Florida provided many hours a amusement.
I think the window closes after 11 Feb then it’s wait until 6 March. I’m thinking about the quarantined crew, I bet they’re hoping for a perfect wet run. I wonder if they’ll break quarantine to train any perishable skills.
I drove two hours to work in a driving snowstorm…where the maintenance man who lived only two miles from work said roads were impassable.
Oh, did he ever hate me.
ADIENT in Clanton, Alabama.
pzatchok’s comment about southerners reminded me of a story:
Stationed in central Louisiana a couple times in the late 1970s. That part of the state would get the occasional ice storm. Even saw 6″ of snow once. When the ice storm hit, base was usually put on late reporting until 10 AM or so, which was a really good idea. At the time, the big wheel, jacked up pick-um-truck was the hot item among the younger drivers. By 10 AM, most of them were in the ditches making the drive in relatively benign. Cheers –