KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — On Thursday, NASA began rolling out Artemis’ Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in a dress rehearsal before its famed moon mission.

The SLS is a super-heavy rocket that is 322 feet tall, making it 17 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. It will begin its slow 4-mile ground journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

And it is slow: Its trip started after 5 p.m. EST on Thursday and could take between six to 12 hours before it arrives at the launch pad, stated NASA.

The purpose of the wet dress rehearsal is to test each phase of the launch countdown, from loading more than 700,000 gallons of super-cold fuel into the rocket to safely standing down from a liftoff attempt.  

Sitting on top of the SLS rocket is the Orion capsule, which will eventually carry its human crew to the moon.

The Orion spacecraft will eventually carry humans back to the moon. (NASA)

Following a successful wet dress rehearsal, NASA will move forward with conducting the Artemis 1 mission, which will be an uncrewed test flight.

“It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a four- to six-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before,” NASA stated in its description of the Artemis 1 mission.

No official date has been given for the Artemis 1 mission, but it is projected to be in May 2022.

NASA has named the mission to return to Earth’s lunar neighbor Artemis, as a homage to the Apollo moon landing. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon.

NASA plans to send humans (including the first woman and person of color) back to the moon in 2025, more than 50 years after the last time people stepped on the lunar surface.

NASA explained the purpose behind the Artemis program.

“With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the moon. Then, we will use what we learn on and around the moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars,” the space agency stated.