Post Wet Dress Rehearsal Press Conference

From left, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director, Exploration Ground Systems Program, and John Honeycutt, chair, Artemis II mission management team, participate in a news conference on Friday, Feb.20, 2026, to discuss the completion of Artemis II second wet dress rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The wet dress rehearsal allows the Artemis II launch team to run through operations to load propellant, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and drain the tanks to practice timelines and procedures for launch. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth from Launch Complex 39B at NASA Kennedy.

From left, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director, Exploration Ground Systems Program, and John Honeycutt, chair, Artemis II mission management team, participate in a news conference on Friday, Feb.20, 2026, to discuss the completion of Artemis II second wet dress rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The wet dress rehearsal allows the Artemis II launch team to run through operations to load propellant, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and drain the tanks to practice timelines and procedures for launch. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth from Launch Complex 39B at NASA Kennedy.

Photographer NASA/Kim Shiflett
Album Artemis_II
John F Kennedy Space CenterKennedyKennedy Space CenterKSCSpaceportCape CanaveralNASArocket ranchFloridamulti-user spaceportpremier spaceportspace coastcapeArtemisArtemis IISLSSpace Launch SystemOrionExploration Ground SystemsEGSKennedy Space CenterKSCPad 39BMoonMarsReid WisemanVictor GloverChristina KochJeremy HansenGrouping Schema CMO