Blogs Archives - Page 3 of 71

Posted on: Friday February 13, 2026

The Manitoba Museum is thrilled to introduce Curator Conversations, an exciting new speaker series that brings you face-to-face with the experts who uncover the stories of our province—and beyond.

Join us as our passionate curators share fascinating insights into the realms of palaeontology, astronomy, botany, history, and zoology. Each session offers a rare opportunity to explore the science, history, and intrigue behind the Museum’s collections and research.

Explore ground-breaking fossil discoveries that reveal life’s earliest chapters; find out how we “curate” the mysteries of the universe in the Planetarium; follow along in the painstaking process of documenting Manitoba’s flora; learn the truth behind cold war preparations in Churchill, Manitoba; and find out the “What, Why, and How” of some of the 125,000 animal specimens in our zoology collection.

March 24

Looking Forward in Deep Time: Palaeontology at the Manitoba Museum

Learn about ground-breaking fossil discoveries with Dr. Joseph Moysiuk.

Learn more

Close-up on the upper end of the planetarium's Zeiss Mark 5-S optomechanical star projector lit in blue hues

April 21

Curating the Universe

Traverse the stars with Planetarium Astronomer Scott Young.

Learn more

Front cover of Volume 1 of Dr. Diana Bizecki Robson's new publication, "Manitoba Flora: A Guide to the Vascular Plants of Manitoba" with forward written by Shirli Ewanchuk/Black Thunderbird. Book cover is atop a backdrop of an illustrated prairie scene from the Manitoba Museum Prairies Gallery.

May 12

Finding Flowers: Creating a New Manitoba Flora

Explore the making of Manitoba Flora with Dr. Diana Bizecki-Robson.

Learn more

An individual standing behind a snowbank wearing a white fur-lined snowsuit holding a gun in front of a snow vehicle with large treads.

September 22

The Cold Cold War: Fort Churchill and the Red Scare

Delve into the Churchill cold war connection with Dr. Roland Sawatzky.

Learn more

A collections storage shelf containing "wet specimens", specimens like fish and reptiles sealed in jars and preserved in liquid.

October 20

The What, How, and Why of the Museum Animal Collections

Take a virtual tour of our animal collections with Dr. Randy Mooi.

Learn more

Word graphic for Curator Conversations at the Manitoba Museum. Below the title, on a red background, text reads,

Curator Conversations will connect you to the stories that shape our understanding of the natural and cultural world. Don’t miss your chance to engage, ask questions, and see the Manitoba Museum like never before!

Click the links above to learn more about upcoming sessions.

Museum Stories: DYK Discovery

DYK Discovery

Friday June 12, 2026

Posted on: Thursday February 12, 2026

The Lake Sturgeon is Manitoba’s largest freshwater fish. This already makes it special enough to deserve some attention, but sturgeons are an incredible story in so many other ways, too: their ancestors date back to well before famous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex, individuals can be over 100 years old, they hunt using electroreception like sharks, and they have been important to people both culturally and as a resource for thousands of years. Let me introduce you to the amazing Lake Sturgeon…

A black and white photo showing a group of youth and young men standing around a very large sturgeon, strung up in front of them from a tree. The tallest individual in the photo comes about halfway up the length of the hanging fish.

It was THIS big!

The largest Lake Sturgeon ever recorded was caught on October 3, 1903, right here in Manitoba near Dominion City in the Roseau River, about 80 km south of Winnipeg. Although reported as over 4.5 m long, a closer look at the photograph suggests it was closer to 3 m – still a monster catch, especially because it weighed 184 kg!

Today, the biggest Lake Sturgeons caught (and released) have been about 2 m long and weighed around 60 kg, much smaller than the record, but a great fishing story regardless!

Image: Photo by G. Barraclough. Manitoba Museum Neg. #17455/Original image in the collection of the Franklin Museum, Dominion City.

How old can a sturgeon be?

Lake Sturgeons are very long-lived fish, with some of the largest individuals suggested to be over 150 years old! But aging a sturgeon can be tricky. They grow relatively quickly for the first ten years of their lives to about 70 cm, but then begin to slow their growth more and more over the years. Scientists can age sturgeon without harm by taking a small section of the pectoral-fin spine (the leading ray of the front fin), a procedure a bit like clipping a fingernail. This spine cross-section has growth rings like those seen in tree sections. These can be counted accurately up to about the age of 25 years, when the fish is about a metre in length. In fishes older than that, the growth rings get closer together and difficult to count.

This is a thin-section of the pectoral-fin spine of a 4-year old Lake Sturgeon. The annual growth rings are easy to count. Modified from an illustration kindly provided by A. Loeppky (©, used with permission).

The 1.4 m female that is hanging in the Welcome Gallery of the Manitoba Museum was estimated to be 45-50 years old, showing how growth slows as sturgeons age; a metre-long sturgeon is usually about 25 years old. © Manitoba Museum

The life of a sturgeon

Although sturgeons can end up huge, they start as tiny, 3-4 mm eggs released into the water, usually in areas of rapids in large rivers. When the eggs are fertilized, they become sticky and attach onto the bottom. Within two weeks, these hatch into larvae nourished by a yolk sac on their bellies. Three weeks later they have drifted downstream to deeper, slower water and begin to feed. After one year, they are about 20 cm long, at five years close to 50 cm, and can reach a metre by age 20-25. Males mature between 8-12 years, and females between 15-30 years. Large females produce up to one million eggs, but few of these will reach adulthood – the eggs and young sturgeon are food for many predators. Even after reaching maturity, adults do not breed every year. This makes sturgeon populations vulnerable to over-harvest.

A young Lake Sturgeon specimen against a white background. The fish is a creamy-grey colour, with an elongated, pointed nose, and small spines along its lower sides.

Young sturgeons develop an armour of sharp spines on large protective scales (or scutes). These wear down with age. Credit: USFWS

What do they eat and how do they find it?

Close-up on the underside of a young Lake Sturgeon's head. Midway down the elongated, pointed nose are four thread-like barbels, followed by the fish's wide, toothless mouth.

Sturgeons feed on the bottom of lakes and rivers, eating snails, mussels, crayfish, aquatic insects and their larvae, fish eggs, and occasionally small fish and algae. The mouth is on the underside of the head and can be extended as a short tube to act like a vacuum. Adults don’t have teeth and most food is swallowed whole. Sturgeons are non-visual feeders, meaning they find food using a combination of touch, smell, and taste using sensory barbels in front of the mouth. Like sharks, they have electroreceptors in pores on their head that are sensitive to the weak electric fields generated by muscles and nerves in prey, making otherwise invisible prey detectable.

Image: The mouth of a Lake Sturgeon is under the head, toothless, but extensible to suck up small animals from the bottom of lakes and rivers. Four finger-like barbels provide touch, taste, and smell while special pores can sense weak electric fields produced by prey. Credit: USFWS

Sturgeons and Indigenous Peoples

First Nations have fished sturgeons for thousands of years, harvesting spawning sites annually with spears, nets, and weirs. Namêw [Nēhiyawēwin (Cree): na-MAY-o] or name [Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe): na-MAY] remain highly prized, not only as food, but as an important connection to cultural traditions. The meat can be dried and pounded into a powder and stored long-term in sturgeon-skin containers. Adding fat and berries to the powder makes sturgeon pemmican. The eggs are a delicacy, but also used to soften animal hides for tanning. The airbladder contains a sticky substance (isinglass) used as glue to repair canoes and as a paint adhesive. Sturgeons also became a valuable economic commodity through trade and commercial fisheries.

This 1858 lithograph shows a First Nations fish weir on the Roseau River in Manitoba, a site that attracted fishers each spring to harvest sturgeons moving to spawning areas. Sometimes fences were built across rivers to prevent the return migration to lakes, providing a source of sturgeons through much of the summer. From Illustrated London News, 1858, Manitoba Museum H9-38-309

Perhaps the same weir in the Roseau River in 1900. The weir would guide migrating sturgeon to the centre of the “V” where they would be taken in small nets or clubbed, then prepared and dried ashore. From Waddell, 1970.

Sturgeon, Fur Traders, and Colonists

A monochromatic painting on yellowed paper showing the bottom and side view of a large fish, white underneath and gray above, with dangling barbels beneath the snout in front of an underslung mouth.

Journals of early fur traders and colonists often mention how important sturgeons were as a source of food, sometimes almost as important as bison. In 1808, a trading post on the Red River landed 775 sturgeons in just one month! At the Red River Settlement, where Winnipeg is now, enough sturgeons were caught to feed the settlers for five weeks each spring through the early 1820s, a critical time when the early settlement suffered crop failures. The water was so low on the Assiniboine River in 1805 that the traders of the North West Company drove sturgeons onto sand banks, reporting “we have no difficulty in killing any number of them… We now subsist entirely on these fish; and they are excellent food.”

Image: Peter Rindisbacher painted his detailed and accurate A Sturgeon from the Red River in 1821. He was a colonist of the Red River Settlement and this rendering was likely inspired by the generosity of Chief Peguis, the famous Ojibwe leader, who had supplied sturgeon meat to feed him and his fellow starving colonists during the arduous trip from York Factory on Hudson Bay to the settlement. Library and Archives Canada, 1988-250-26

Black and white photograph of a person standing outside in the snow in front of a log building wearing layers of winter-wear, holding up a Lake Sturgeon about as long as they are tall.

A long history threatened

Sturgeons appeared at least 120 million years ago, 40-50 million years before dinosaurs such as Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex. They have lived through geological events that wiped out many other animals, including those dinosaurs. But commercial fishing and sudden demand for sturgeons in the 1880s were almost their undoing. Commercial catch peaked in 1900 at about 30,000 sturgeons caught in Manitoba, alone! Their late maturity (8-12 years in males, 15-30 years in females) made this harvest unsustainable, as the larger and older individuals were fished out. Damming of rivers for hydroelectric power has significantly altered habitat and restricted access to spawning sites, bringing further population declines. Lake Sturgeon have become rare in many parts of the province.

Image: A large sturgeon caught near Berens River in the 1930s. Commercial over-exploitation and changes to the environment meant that traditional fishers could neither catch Lake Sturgeons in sufficient numbers for food nor maintain important cultural connections. Archives of Manitoba, N27831

Bringing back a giant

A person's hand holds a very small Lake sturgeon across their fingers over a bucket of water filled with more young Lake sturgeons.

Over the last several decades, dedicated efforts have been made to bring sturgeon populations back to sustainable numbers. Research and traditional ecological knowledge have improved understanding of sturgeon biology in Manitoba. Collaborative stocking programs collect wild sturgeon eggs, with hatched larvae raised in captivity for a year to increase survival rate upon release. This can help rebuild depleted populations or reintroduce sturgeons to former territory. Cooperation and careful management among industries, fishers, scientists, and Indigenous groups combining science, traditional knowledge, and education has helped save Manitoba’s Lake Sturgeon, an important natural, historical, and cultural icon.

Image: Young hatchery-raised Lake Sturgeons ready for release into the wild. Credit: USFWS

At the Manitoba Museum, you can get up close and personal to a 50-year old, 1.4 m Lake Sturgeon in the Welcome Gallery, and learn more about these and other amazing fishes in our Parklands Gallery.

Dr. Randy Mooi

Curator of Zoology

Dr. Mooi received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Toronto working on the evolutionary history of coral reef fishes. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian Institution…

Meet Dr. Randy Mooi

Museum Stories: Zoology

Zoology

Monday June 8, 2026

Firefly Dating Strategies

There are few more magical or mesmerizing ways to spend a warm, humid June evening than watching fireflies as they rhythmically flash their tiny lights while they skim over a grassy field. It becomes even more romantic…

Zoology

Thursday February 12, 2026

An Ancient Giant in our Midst

Zoology

Thursday February 6, 2025

The E.W. Darbey Taxidermy Shop and the Making of the Manitoba Museum

The Manitoba Museum recently opened a “new” store in the Winnipeg 1920 Gallery, the Darbey taxidermy shop. Today, a taxidermy shop would be considered a minor player in our digital world…

Posted on: Wednesday February 4, 2026

February skies give us a combination of the winter stars with hopefully less-frigid temperatures than last month, although warmer temps can also bring clouds. Take your clear nights when you can this month to catch some of the celestial sights on offer.

Although this article focuses on events visible in Manitoba, most events will also be visible across Canada and most places in the mid-northern hemisphere.

The Solar System for February 2026

Mercury becomes visible around midmonth in the west-southwest after sunset. Start looking about 30 minutes after sunset low on the horizon – you might need binoculars to spot it before about the 10th. Mercury rises higher above the horizon each night, but also gets fainter which will make it harder to spot. Probably the best date and time to catch it will be the evening of February 18th, when the thin crescent Moon passes just below it (see Sky Calendar entry below).

Venus reappears in the evening sky this month, very low in the west-southwest after sunset. You’ll need a clear horizon, since it remains quite low and sets about an hour after the Sun. Venus will remain in the evening sky for the next several months.

Mars is still too close to the Sun to be visible this month. It passes behind the sun and reaches superior conjunction on January 9th, 2026.

Jupiter is still dominating the evening sky, sitting high in the east-southeast as darkness falls and moving across the southern sky throughout the night. Jupiter is just past its January 10th opposition, when Jupiter appears near its brightest and largest as seen from Earth. It’s a great time to look at the planet in binoculars (to see the four largest moons) or a telescope. See our feature article on Jupiter in last month’s blog.

Saturn is fading into the evening twilight, low in the southwest as darkness falls and setting in mid-evening. Good telescope views are done for the year; Saturn’s main interest this month is its grouping with Neptune and the Moon on February 19th (see Sky Calendar entry below). Saturn will return to the morning sky in mid-2026 for its next apparition.

Uranus is in the evening sky a few degrees below the famous Pleaides star cluster (also known as the Seven Sisters). It is too faint to easily see without binoculars, and even a telescope shows it as a faint dot that looks just like the other faint stars. A detailed star-charting app like Stellarium or the charts in the Observer’s Handbook is required to track it down.

Neptune requires good binoculars or a small telescope to even spot, and a large telescope to make it out as anything more than a faint dot. It spends the month near Saturn, though, which makes it easier to track down than usual. As with Uranus, a detailed star chart like those in the Observer’s Handbook or produced software by Stellarium is required to tell which tiny “dot” is Neptune.

Of the five known dwarf planets, only (1) Ceres is close enough to be seen in binoculars or a small telescope. Ceres has faded below easy visibility in binoculars for the year, but will brighten again beginning in late 2026.

Sky Calendar for February 2026

All times are given in Central Standard Time, the local time for Manitoba. However, most of these events are visible across Canada at the same local time without adjusting for time zones.

If there’s a little box to the left of the date, you can click on it to see a star map of that event! All images are created using Stellarium, the free planetarium software.

Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026: Full Moon

Monday, Feb. 9, 2026: Last Quarter Moon

Monday, Feb. 16, 2026: Neptune is less than 1 degree from Saturn, low in the western sky after sunset. The accompanying image shows the view through typical household binoculars. It’s pretty much this close all month, since Saturn moves very slowly and Neptune hardly at all over such small timescales.

Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026: New Moon. There is an annular (ring) solar eclipse at this time, but it is only visible in the extreme southern hemisphere.

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026: The Moon eclipses Mercury during the day (not visible from Canada) and is still nearby after sunset.

Monday, Feb. 23, 2026: The Moon is just above the Pleiades star cluster tonight. The accompanying image shows the view through typical household binoculars at 10:30 p.m. Central Time.

“Planetary Parade” begins – look for Venus, Mercury, and Saturn low in the west after sunset. Jupiter is on the other side of the sky.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026: First Quarter Moon. Also the best night for Venus, Mercury/Saturn grouping in western evening sky. Be outside with a clear western horizon by 6:30 p.m. local time. From this date on, Venus gets higher and easier to see, while Mercury gets lower and harder to see.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026 (evening sky): Venus, Mercury, and Saturn are together in the western sky after sunset.

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026 (evening sky): Venus, Mercury, and Saturn are together in the western sky after sunset. Tonight is also the monthly Dome@Home online planetarium show, where you can discover what’s up in the sky on the Museum’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026: Meanwhile, at the other end of the “parade”, the Moon is near Jupiter in the evening sky.

Friday, Feb. 27, 2026 (evening sky): Venus, Mercury, and Saturn are together in the western sky after sunset.

Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 (evening sky): Venus, Mercury, and Saturn are together in the western sky after sunset. Probably your last chance to see Mercury before it fades into the evening twilight.

Monday evening, March 2 to Tuesday morning, March 3: There’s a total lunar eclipse visible from Winnipeg! Keep your eye open for the March 2026 Sky Calendar which will have full details.

People stare up at the northern lights above them.

Other Celestial Sights

Outside of the events listed above, there are other things we see in the sky that can’t always be predicted in advance.

Aurora borealis, the northern lights, are becoming a more common sight again as the Sun goes through the maximum of its 11-year cycle of activity. Particles from the Sun interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and the high upper atmosphere to create glowing curtains of light around the north (and south) magnetic poles of the planet. Manitoba is well-positioned relative to the north magnetic pole to see these displays often, but they still can’t be forecast very far in advance. A site like Space Weather can provide updates on solar activity and aurora forecasts for the next 48 hours. The best way to see the aurora is to spend a lot of time out under the stars, so that you are there when they occur.

Random meteors (also known as falling or shooting stars) occur every clear night at the rate of about 5-10 per hour. Most people don’t see them because of light pollution from cities, or because they don’t watch the sky uninterrupted for an hour straight. They happen so quickly that a single glance down at your phone or exposure to light can make you miss one.

Satellites are becoming extremely common sights in the hours after sunset and before dawn. Appearing as a moving star that takes a few minutes to cross the sky, they appear seemingly out of nowhere. These range from the International Space Station and Chinese space station Tianhe, which have people living on them full-time, to remote sensing and spy satellites, to burnt-out rocket parts and dead satellites. The most common sightings are Starlink satellites, which are being launched dozens at a time to bring internet to remote regions, but which cause trouble with astronomy and pollution. These can be predicted in advance (or identified after the fact) using a site like Heavens Above by selecting your location.

Scott Young

Planetarium Astronomer

Scott is the Planetarium Astronomer at the Manitoba Museum, developing astronomy and science programs. He has been an informal science educator for more than thirty years, working in the planetarium and science centre field. Scott is an active amateur astronomer and a past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He hosts Dome@Home, the Manitoba Museum’s award-winning online astronomy show.

Manitoba Stories: In the Sky

AstronomyBlogs

Friday June 26, 2026

The Sky for July 2026

July is summer vacation for many students in Canada, and it’s often summer when people can get away from city lights. Whether it’s camping, or to a cabin or cottage, or just a half-hour drive away from city lights, if you time your trip properly you will be rewarded with amazing summer skies.

Astronomy

Tuesday May 26, 2026

The Sky for June 2026

June gives us our shortest nights of the year. For several weeks on either side of the summer solstice (June 21st in 2026), the sun never really gets very far below the horizon, and the sky doesn’t get truly dark for southern Manitoba’s latitude (near 50 degrees north).

Astronomy

Friday May 1, 2026

The Sky for May 2026

April’s showers bring May flowers, so the saying goes… but here in Treaty One territory in Winnipeg, my flowers have not enjoyed the repeated freeze-thaw cycles of the past several weeks. Hopefully we will return to seasonal temperatures and clearer skies for this month’s celestial line-up…

Update 1 April 2026 08:36 a.m. CDT: The countdown is underway, and the Artemis rocket is being fueled with super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen in preparation for launch. Launch is still scheduled for the beginning of the launch window at 5:24 p.m. CDT. The Dome@Home online watch party (on the Museum’s Facebook page and YouTube channel) will begin at 3:00 p.m. today and feature feeds and content from across NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Past updates:

Update 06:48 a.m. CDT: Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson has given the GO to fuel the giant Space Launch System rocket. Over the next several hours, liquid hydrogen and oxygen will fill the orange fuel tank of the rocket’s core stage and the upper ICPS (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Unit) stage. Launch is still targeting the beginning of the 2-hour launch window at 5:24 p.m. CDT.

Update 31 Match 2026 14:01 p.m. CDT: The Artemis II countdown continues throughout the day as launch controllers prepare NASA’s most powerful rocket ever for its Wednesday launch attempt. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:24 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, April 1st. If the launch is delayed, there are further opportunities daily until the 6th, and then another “window” opens on April 30th.

Join us for an online launch party on the Manitoba Museum’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. The event currently is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, April 1st.

This month, if all goes well, a Canadian astronaut will fly around the Moon. The Artemis II mission, years in preparation, is set to launch NET (not earlier than) April 1, 2026 at 5:24 pm Central Daylight Time from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Aboard will be three American Astronauts and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. Scroll down for the latest updates!

Background

If you didn’t know we were less than two weeks away from a Canadian lunar astronaut mission, it’s not surprising. News headlines have been dominated with many other issues, but that’s not the only reason. For the first time since its formation, NASA has been very close-lipped about the dates and times of any of the events leading up to the mission. We only got possible launch dates a couple of weeks ago, when usually these would be set and released months in advance. The Canadian Space Agency has been under the news embargo as well, although they have some excellent resources on the mission background and on our astronauts.

Jeremy Hansen is a Mission Specialist on the Artemis II mission, along with American astronauts Reid Wiseman (Commander), Victor Glover (Pilot), and Christina Koch (Mission Specialist). They will spend nearly 10 days aboard their Orion spacecraft, named “Integrity”, for the first crewed launch of the giant Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission will test the spacecraft in Earth orbit, and then head out on a long, looping orbit which will slingshot them around the Moon and back to Earth.

There are plenty of articles which detail the mission, Jeremy’s role, and Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons, who is Jeremy’s back-up for the mission. This blog will focus on the latest news on the mission and any updates we get on the timing.

Artemis II Watch Party

Join us for a live-streamed Dome@Home Special Event: Artemis II Launch Party on the Museum’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. If the launch proceeds as scheduled, the event will begin at 3 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, April 1st, with launch expected at 5:24 p.m. CDT. However, the launch window is two hours long, and so if there are delays the launch might occur as late as 7:24 p.m. So again, “if” is the operative word.

Since this is the first crewed launch of a new rocket and spacecraft, though, that is a big “if”. Each month has about 6 days of possible launch dates, based on the positions of the Moon and the requirements of the orbit, sunlight angles, and so forth. It’s hard to schedule an evening event in-person at the Museum with that much uncertainty, so at this point all we can promise is an online livestream watch party. Keep checking this page for the latest updates.

Older Updates

Update 30 Mar 2026 14:37 CDT: The countdown begins today for the April 1 launch of Artemis II! The nearly-50-hour process of preparing the rocket for launch, loading the crew, and finally launching begins at 3:44 p.m. CDT today.

Update 24 Feb 2026 08:53 CST: Launch Delayed to April. Just after completing a successful Wet Dress Rehearsal on February 20th, NASA teams found an issue with the rocket’s upper stage, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System (ICPS). The ICPS uses helium to pressurize the tanks and engine, and this system worked fine during the test. However, during post-test operations the helium wouldn’t flow. Unfortunately, the helium system is not accessible at the launch pad, and so the entire vehicle has to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for troubleshooting and more testing – that is happening Wednesday, February 25th, and should take about 12 hours. Finding and fixing the issue and still making one of the possible March launch days was deemed unlikely, and so NASA has officially bumped to the April launch window. The earliest possible launch is now April 1st at 5:24 p.m. Central Time (6:24 p.m. local time at the launch site in Florida).

Update 20 Feb 2026 08:56 CST: Success! Yesterday’s Artemis II rehearsal countdown was completed successfully, hopefully clearing the way for an early March launch. The nearly fifty-hour “wet dress rehearsal” saw the 98-m (322-foot) rocket fully fueled without any of troublesome hydrogen leaks seen during the first test two weeks ago. The count stopped at T-33 seconds as planned, and held there to demonstrate that even a last-minute issue with the rocket could be dealt with without a full countdown reset. And there was one – a minor issue that was dealt with and solved in about three and a half minutes, which would not have delayed a real launch. The countdown clock was then reset to T-1o minutes and the “terminal count” run a second time, this time stopping at T-29 seconds.

The test shows NASA has solved the hydrogen leak issues, but also that it can hold during the terminal countdown to deal with issues such as weather, range safety violations (like when a tourist boat sails into the restricted area), and other transitory events without delaying the launch. Each launch window is two hours long, which gives plenty of time to be able to solve issues, top up the fuel tanks again, and still head to the Moon.

The four-person crew of Artemis II – Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Kristina Koch (all NASA astronauts) and Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen – were not involved in the test, remaining in Houston where they are preparing for a March 6 launch. Even without them, the pad crew went through the motions of closing the hatches to ensure all processes were practiced one more time.

NASA plans a press conference at 10 a.m. Central Time today to discuss the results of the test. The earliest possible launch (due to the position of the Moon, the spacecraft’s required trajectory, and requirements for reentry) is March 6th, 2026 at 7:29 p.m. Central Time (8:29 p.m. local time at the launch site in Florida).

Update 18 Feb 2026 9:07 a.m. CST – Second Wet Dress Rehearsal Underway! NASA began its second dress rehearsal for the Artemis II launch yesterday on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Controllers were called to stations at about 7:00 p.m. Central Time for the nearly 50-hour countdown which will put the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft Integrity through a full rehearsal of fueling and preparation for launch.

This rehearsal comes two weeks after the first attempt ended prematurely with some hydrogen leaks, a persistent issue with hydrogen-fueled rockets. Hydrogen is the smallest and lightest element, which means it can sneak through even the tightest seals to some degree.

Most of the visible action will occur on Thursday, when the rocket will be fully fueled and powered up for launch. The countdown will run until T-33 seconds, which is when the automatic launch sequence would take over the count from the human flight controllers. NASA will then run through the last ten minutes (the “terminal count”) a few times, simulating a minor delay which requires a few extra minutes to resolve.

The four-person crew – Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot David Glover, Mission Specialist Kristina Koch, and Mission Specialist (and Canadian) Jeremy Hansen – is not involved in the test and is still in Houston. Despite this, the pad crew will still go through the motions of closing the hatches as if this was an actual launch. Depending on the results of the test, the earliest possible launch date for Artemis II is March 6, 2026 at 7:29 p.m. Central Time (8:29 p.m. local time in Florida).

Next update is expected Thursday morning, unless conditions warrant an earlier update.

Update 3 Feb 2026 9:29 a.m. CST – Launch delayed: Based on the results of the wet dress rehearsal yesterday (Feb 2), the launch of Artemis II has been bumped to the March launch window. This means the first possible launch will occur on March 6, 2026 at 8:29 p.m. CST. The countdown will begin roughly 48 hours before that.

Update 2026 Feb. 2 12:43 p.m. CST: Did I post too soon? Hydrogen flow stopped “for troubleshooting”; liquid oxygen flow continues.

Update 2026 Feb 2 12:02 p.m. CST: They are now starting to chill down the ICPS, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion System – the second stage of the SLS Block I. This involves feeding a bit of the super-cold hydrogen and oxygen into the tanks, so that the warm tanks don’t boil off too much as they fill. We do the same thing at the Science Gallery when we use liquid nitrogen.

That seems to indicate that the fueling of the big orange stage one tank went well? That was an issue on Artemis I – dealing with hydrogen is hard, since it is the smallest element in the periodic table and can leak through almost any other substance. So maybe no news is good news?

Update 2026 Feb 2 11:25 a.m. CST: Go for tanking! The Artemis II rocket is being fueled in today’s wet dress rehearsal, which is targeting a *simulated* launch window at 8:00 p.m. CST tonight. They will count all the way down to T-33 seconds, fueling the rocket and doing everything except putting the crew on board. They’ll count all the way down to T-33 seconds, then rest the clock for T-10 minutes and do it again. This simulates the need to delay the launch for a while due to things like weather or a small glitch that they need a few minutes to deal with. Each launch window is two hours long, so they have some wiggle room.

If all goes well in today’s test, NASA is targeting Sunday, February 8 at 10:20 p.m. CST for the launch of Jeremy Hansen and the rest of the Artemis II crew on their 1-day mission around the Moon. Stay tuned!

Update 2026 Feb 2 9:24 a.m. CST: Wet Dress Rehearsal Underway! The Wet Dress Rehearsal, the last major test of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft before launch, began at 8:13 p.m. on January 31, 2026. The “interesting” bits will be occurring today (Feb 2, 2026) as they decide whether they can fuel the rocket or not. Looking at the cold, they may not, which would delay the test and push the launch to the March launch window. Waiting to see!

UPDATE 2026 Jan 30 1:14 p.m. CST: The Artemis Wet Dress Rehearsal has been delayed due to a cold front rolling through Florida over the next few days. The last major test is now scheduled for Feb. 2, which means the earliest launch opportunity has slipped to February 8th at 10:20 p.m. CST.

Update 28 Jan 2026 09:40 am CST

As of now, the giant SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft is sitting on the launch pad, awaiting the final test, known as the “wet dress rehearsal”. This is a complete countdown rehearsal from L-10 hours and 40 minutes, including fueling the rocket with cryogenic (supercold) hydrogen and oxygen (hence “wet”). The crew does not board the rocket, and they go all the way down to 33 seconds, when the computer would take over the automated launch sequence. This makes sure there are no leaks, that all the batteries and communications work, and that everything is safe to put humans on top of the rocket. A day or so after the wet dress rehearsal, they will do it all again for real.

As of this writing the wet dress rehearsal is scheduled for January 31, which should leave plenty of time for a February 6 launch. So, as things stand launch will occur at 8:41 pm CST on February 6. But this is of course subject to change, based on any troubles in the dress rehearsal or any other technical or weather issues on launch day.