CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s colossal new rocket destined for lunar missions made its way to the launch pad on Saturday, setting the stage for a historic journey that will see astronauts orbit the moon for the first time in over 50 years.

This landmark mission could take flight as soon as February.

Measuring 322 feet (98 meters) tall, the rocket embarked on a slow-paced journey at 1 mph (1.6 kph) from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center at dawn. It traversed a 4-mile (6-kilometer) path, finally reaching its destination by nightfall.

In the chilly early hours, thousands of space center employees and their families gathered to witness this eagerly anticipated milestone. They watched as the Space Launch System rocket emerged from the building, originally constructed in the 1960s for the Saturn V rockets, which famously carried 24 astronauts to the moon under the Apollo program. Leading the enthusiastic crowd were NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, and the four astronauts selected for the mission.

“Today is an incredible day to witness this,” remarked Reid Wiseman, the mission’s commander. “It truly inspires awe.”

Weighing in at 11 million pounds (5 million kilograms), the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule on top made the move aboard a massive transporter that was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras. It was upgraded for the SLS rocket’s extra heft.

The first and only other SLS launch — which sent an empty Orion capsule into orbit around the moon — took place back in November 2022.

“This one feels a lot different, putting crew on the rocket and taking the crew around the moon,” NASA’s John Honeycutt said on the eve of the rocket’s rollout.

Heat shield damage and other capsule problems during the initial test flight required extensive analyses and tests, pushing back this first crew moonshot until now. The astronauts won’t orbit the moon or even land on it. That giant leap will take come on the third flight in the Artemis lineup a few years from now.

Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and Christina Koch — longtime NASA astronauts with spaceflight experience — will be joined on the 10-day mission by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot awaiting his first rocket ride.

They will be the first people to fly to the moon since Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt closed out the triumphant lunar-landing program in 1972. Twelve astronauts strolled the lunar surface, beginning with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. Only four moonwalkers are still alive; Aldrin, the oldest, turns 96 on Tuesday.

“They are so fired up that we are headed back to the moon,” Wiseman said. “They just want to see humans as far away from Earth as possible discovering the unknown.”

NASA is waiting to conduct a fueling test of the SLS rocket on the pad in early February before confirming a launch date.

“We’ve, I think, zero intention of communicating an actual launch date” until completing the fueling demo, Isaacman told reporters.

The space agency has only five days to launch in the first half of February before bumping into March.