Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal Delayed, SpaceX to Merge with xAI!? [4:42]

YouTube ^ | January 30, 2026 | Ellie in Space

[SunkenCiv]

 

Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal Delayed, SpaceX to Merge with xAI!? | 4:42 
Ellie in Space | 216K subscribers | 4,773 views | January 30, 2026

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TOPICS: Astronomy; Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: 1stofmanydelays; artemisii; astronomy; datacenters; ellieinspace; nasa; postponement1; science; spacex; travel; wetdressrehearsal

[SunkenCiv]

Transcript

I have some SpaceX news and also some news about Artemis 2, which is important if you were planning on watching the wet dress rehearsal. So, that wet dress rehearsal was originally scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, January 31st, but it has slipped a few days. NASA released this statement saying NASA is targeting Monday, February 2nd as the tanking day for the upcoming Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal at the AY's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a result of weather.

With this change, the first potential opportunity to launch is no earlier than Sunday, February 8th, which happens to fall on the same day as the Super Bowl. Over the past several days, engineers have been closely monitoring conditions as cold weather and winds move through Florida. Managers have assessed hardware capabilities against the projected forecast given the rare Arctic outbreak affecting the state and decided to change the timeline. Teams and preparations at the launchpad remain ready for the wet dress rehearsal. However, adjusting the timeline for the test will position NASA for success during the rehearsal, as the expected weather this weekend would violate launch conditions.

While NASA will wait to set a launch date until teams have reviewed the outcome of the wet dress rehearsal, Friday, February 6th and Saturday, February 7th are no longer viable opportunities. Any additional delays would result in a day-for-day change. And if you were wondering, the Artemis 2 crew remains in quarantine in Houston. Managers are assessing the timeline for crew arrival.

So, when should you be near your computers to watch this wet dress rehearsal? Well, the opening of a simulated launch window begins at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, February 2nd, with the countdown beginning approximately 49 hours prior. Oh my gosh. And NASA will continue to assess weather conditions ahead of the test.

Now, I'm already seeing concern on X about the cold weather and are they really staying on top of this? Because we know that cold weather can be a very bad thing for rocket launches. While during the cold weather, NASA says engineers have kept Orion powered and have configured its heaters for the colder temperatures. Purges used to maintain proper environmental conditions for elements of the spacecraft and rocket, including the booster aft skirts, are also configured for the weather.

So, there you have it. Don't bother watching on Saturday; watch on Monday for what should be a very exciting wet dress rehearsal. And I'm just going to go through some other news because I feel like a lot of you guys have probably seen this stuff on X, but not everyone is chronically online. So, let's just talk about SpaceX.

Elon posted recently that he expects to have the next Starship flight in about 6 weeks. So, Elon just shared a photo of Starship and posted "Starship launch in six weeks." This was on January 25th. So for everyone who's been asking me when the heck is flight 12, that is our best guess. So mid-March is when we could expect to see Starship debut, the V3 or the next generation of Starship. Also, of course, debut a launch from the new pad.

And here's some more interesting news about the upcoming SpaceX IPO, which is expected to happen sometime this June, which is really soon. But the breaking news yesterday was about a possible SpaceX X AI merger. According to Reuters, SpaceX is exploring deals with other companies helmed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, leaving investors working through permutations between space, autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence to analyze which combination makes the most sense. But several sources have been sharing that Elon is in discussions to merge with XAI ahead of the blockbuster public offering planned for this year. Bloomberg also reported that SpaceX is considering a merger with Tesla.

So, like I mentioned, those are just some quick updates just to get the information out there. I plan to interview some more people ahead of the SpaceX IPO and possible SpaceX XAI merger that we are now hearing about, but there's a lot of news breaking on X and sometimes it's a lot to keep up with. So, sorry if you've already heard this information, but I plan to dive deeper into some of these topics, but I just wanted to get it out there so that you guys are informed.

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

[SunkenCiv]

• BREAKING: SpaceX wants to turn Space into the World's Biggest AI Data Center. [01/31/2026]
• SpaceX Said to Consider Merger With Tesla or xAI [4:57] [01/30/2026]

[V_TWIN]

Glad to hear it actually.......it’s about to be cold as crap down here beginning tonight.

Last thing we need is another Challenger.

[chajin]

40 years ago it was as cold in central FL as it will be tomorrow, and that was when the Challenger blew up. Even though the spacecraft is very different, no one wants to take that risk again.

[telescope115]

Last thing we need is another Challenger.

***

AMEN to that. I’m all for delays, for the astronaut’s sake.

[Jeff Chandler]

Better double check those Viton O-rings.

[SunkenCiv]

Rare arctic temps. Good thing to blame on global warming. ☃️

https://www.foxweather.com/watch/fmc-tf2sudhotcn2a746

[GMMC0987]

You had me at wet dress.

[The Duke]

Any merging of SpaceX and xAI would tempt me to come out of retirement. AI would make an excellent first astronaut to land on Mars. I've been experimenting with that, and it's really quite impressive. The "AI astronaut" is not only ideal from the technical and engineering side of things, but it's also able to communicate with a classroom of third graders at their level.

Imagine the savings in not having to implement life support systems. And, if there is a catastrophic failure in early missions, no human life has been lost.

[Ezekiel]

NASA is targeting Monday, February 2nd as the tanking day for the upcoming Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal at the AY's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a result of weather.

[SunkenCiv]

Perfect summation.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, it’s a really exciting time. 🥁

https://search.brave.com/search?q=wet+dress+artemis+2+what+is+it&summary=1

[The Sons of Liberty]

Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal at the AY's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a result of weather.

Good! The LAST thing we need is another Challenger disaster!

[aquila48]

Is a wet dress rehearsal like a wet t-shirt contest?

[central_va]

She’s wearing a top underneath. FAIL

[SunkenCiv]

It’ll make colonization work, as the whole infrastructure would be there upon arrival. It’s a tough sell otherwise, given that it’s a one way voyage.

[SunkenCiv]

If it isn’t, I don’t know why we’re doin’ it! 🍻

[SunkenCiv]

No one will be aboard it.