NASA's Space Launch System rocket stands on the launch pad at Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA said on Sunday that they are looking at an 80% chance for weather that will allow Artemis II to launch on April 1. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

Artemis II crew, rocket ready for launch this week in Florida

· Yahoo News

March 29 (UPI) -- NASA officials said Sunday that the crew, Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule are ready to launch the Artemis II mission to circle the moon.

In a mission set to take humans farther from the Earth than they have gone in nearly 50 years, the space agency will start its countdown to launch the four-person crew on a 10-day mission that is being billed as a test flight.

If weather permits on Wednesday, the Artemis II crew -- Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover -- will take Orion on its first crewed flight, an important step in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and eventually travel to Mars.

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"We are ready," Lori Glaze, NASA's acting associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said during a press briefing on Sunday.

"All of our operations have been going smoothly ... Our flight systems are ready. The ground systems are ready. Our launch and operations teams are ready, and our flight operations team in Houston is ready," she said.

The Artemis II crew -- Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, left, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover -- arrive at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for a planned 10-day journey around the Moon. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

The official countdown to launch is scheduled to start on Monday, with a launch window set to open Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT.

With the SLS and Orion having gone through extensive testing -- including a three-week trip back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to repair a helium issue -- Shawn Quinn, manager of NASA's Ground Exploration Systems program, the only concern he has at the moment is weather and cloud cover.

NASA Astronaut and Commander of the Artemis II mission, Mission Commander Reid Wiseman holds up the Artemis II "Zero G" indicator and shows it to the media. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI

The forecast as of Sunday, however, looks to be 80% suitable for launch, he said.

NASA's Artemis II moon rocket with the Orion Spacecraft atop rests on Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday. Artemis II and its four-person crew is scheduled for lift off on April 1, and will be the first manned spacecraft to circle the Moon in more than 50 years. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI