美国国家航空航天局在佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心开始将一枚高成本火箭运往发射台，标志着美国与中国登月竞赛中的关键节点。由波音公司制造的太空发射系统火箭与洛克希德·马丁公司的猎户座飞船需行进4英里（约6.4公里），整个转运过程最长可达12小时。该系统研发历时约15年，至今仅在2022年完成一次无人绕月试飞。

太空发射系统长期超支且进度滞后，每次发射成本超过40亿美元。尽管总统特朗普曾在年度预算中提议在第三次飞行后逐步淘汰该火箭，并称其“成本过高且延期严重”，国会最终仍批准新增41亿美元资金。此次转运是“阿尔忒弥斯Ⅱ号”任务的首个步骤，该任务将搭载4名宇航员绕月飞行并在10天内返回，原定于2024年末发射，现调整为不晚于4月。

在完成发射台检查后，NASA计划于1月底进行一次“湿彩排”测试，即模拟加注燃料，这是后续流程的关键关口。美国与中国均投入数十亿美元推进载人登月计划，中国目标是在2030年前实现首次载人登月。“阿尔忒弥斯Ⅱ号”将全面测试猎户座飞船的生命支持系统，为计划于2027年执行的“阿尔忒弥斯Ⅲ号”载人登月任务铺路，这是自1972年12月以来的首次。

NASA has begun rolling a costly rocket to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking a key milestone in the lunar race between the US and China. The Boeing-built Space Launch System rocket and Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft must travel 4 miles (about 6.4 kilometers), a process expected to take up to 12 hours. Development of the system has spanned about 15 years, and it has flown only once so far, an uncrewed lunar-orbit test in 2022.

The Space Launch System is over budget and behind schedule, with each launch costing more than $4 billion. Although President Donald Trump proposed phasing out the rocket after its third flight, calling it “grossly expensive and delayed,” Congress approved $4.1 billion in new funding. The rollout marks the first step of the Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts around the moon and back within ten days; originally scheduled for late 2024, the launch is now set for no later than April.

After pad checks are complete, NASA plans a wet dress rehearsal at the end of January, a full fueling test considered critical to proceeding. Both the US and China are spending billions on crewed lunar programs, with China aiming for its first crewed landing by 2030. Artemis II will test Orion’s life-support systems in deep space, paving the way for Artemis III, now planned for 2027, which would achieve the first crewed lunar landing since December 1972.