CAPE CANAVERAL, March 20, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - NASA on Thursday began returning its towering SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to its Florida launch pad ahead of a planned flyby of the Moon, after completing necessary repairs.

Artemis engineers began the maneuver, which can take up to 12 hours, at 8:00 pm eastern, after which the US space agency will begin final preparations before its next launch window opens on April 1.

The immense orange and white Space Launch System rocket and the Orion vessel were to be slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved four miles (6.5 kilometers) to Launch Pad 39B.

If the tests are satisfactory, three Americans and one Canadian will head to the Moon as soon as early April to fly around Earth's satellite.

The mission, to last about 10 days, would be a huge step towards Americans once again setting foot on the lunar surface, a goal announced by President Donald Trump in his first term.

But that ambition has been plagued by delays.

Late last month NASA detected an issue with helium flow and decided to roll the Artemis 2 stack -- which weighs 11 million pounds -- back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to investigate the technical issues and make any necessary repairs.

That took a March launch out of the question. Before that setback, NASA had found technical problems including a liquid hydrogen leak that cut short a so-called wet dress rehearsal for the launch.

The agency is now hopeful the first crewed flyby in more than half a century could get off the ground in early April. The first opportunity is April 1, and several more follow in the subsequent days.

Meanwhile the Artemis 2 astronaut crew entered quarantine on Wednesday in Houston as they prepare for the eventual historic journey.