NASA Astronaut Captures Artemis II Rocket at Launch Pad from the ISS
Photo credit: Chris Williams
Astronaut Chris Williams was floating on board the International Space Station when it flew over a familiar location, and he captured a photo that throws the Artemis II mission into great focus. The image shows NASA Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s coast, where the SLS rocket is now placed on Launch Pad 39B.
Chris got the photo during a weekend pass over the site, just as the rocket finished its lengthy rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building. The drive to the pad had taken nearly twelve hours on that gigantic crawler-transporter, which covered four miles. As it turned out, the station was in exactly the proper position in its orbit, giving him a clear overhead view of the entire coastal complex.
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The view shows the green marshes and streams sweeping over the landscape, framed by the blue Atlantic Ocean. There are roads and utilities scattered throughout the area, leading to various pads. On the rightmost one, you’ll notice a shadow stretching away from the center; this dark form is caused by the rocket and its launch tower. The rocket moved onto the pad on Saturday, January 17, 2026, and might launch as early as February 6th.
Photo credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Chris characterized the photo as far from ideal, claiming he used the wrong lens, yet it still turned out quite special to say the least. The rocket in the frame will carry four colleagues, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, on their mission around the Moon. This is the first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years. And this time, they’ll be pushing farther away from Earth than any human has ever gone before, then plunging back down at an unrivaled pace.
Photo credit: NASA/Brandon Hancock
From 250 miles up, that scene on the ground packs a lot of engineering into a single small shadow. Chris, the only US astronaut in orbit at the time of the crew change, captured the moment when all of that hardware met the horizon. His coworkers will soon be riding off into deep space on that shadow, as he watches over them from above, passing by.
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NASA Astronaut Captures Artemis II Rocket at Launch Pad from the ISS
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