ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 What was supposed to be an eight-plus-hour journey from California to Florida to witness a historic moment in space exploration turned into something a little more down-to-earth for Brandon Carn.<\/p>\n
The art teacher and devoted space enthusiast is from Moreno Valley, about an hour east of Pomona, California, where Artemis II<\/a> astronaut Victor Glover is from and traveled across the country last week for his spring break vacation, hoping to see the launch of Artemis II, the rocket carrying four astronauts that\u2019ll take humans on a trip around the moon, for the first time in more than 50 years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been very fascinated that America is going back to the moon,\u201d Carn said.<\/p>\n The anticipated launch had been targeting March, so Carn booked a flight to Florida to watch it from near the launch site.<\/p>\n [WATCH: NASA issues update on Artemis 2 rocket following rollback]<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cheap. It\u2019s only about $100 one way to get from California to Florida, so it\u2019s not a bad round-trip deal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n But days before he was set to check in for the flight, NASA announced another delay \u2014 this time due to a fuel leak discovered during testing.<\/p>\n The setback pushed the launch timeline yet again, something Carn said he had been hoping wouldn\u2019t happen, though he admitted the delays have become familiar.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been watching since September. I\u2019m like, \u2018It\u2019ll be ready in January.\u2019 No, February\u2026 no, now March,\u201d he said. \u201cReady to go in March because I have the week off\u2026 and now it\u2019s supposed to happen in April<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s got a week of free time in Orlando, and instead of watching a rocket launch, Carn is making the most of his unexpected Florida trip, hanging out with friends and planning to hit the theme parks.<\/p>\n [WATCH: NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis moon program]<\/p>\n We should mention Carn is no stranger to Central Florida, having come for Artemis I and experiencing a similar situation. That time he was able to snag a picture of the rocket from the launch pad, a worthy consolation for the journey, he joked, in addition to the cool people he got to meet on that trip.<\/p>\n Check out Brandon Carn\u2019s art (Instagram<\/a>), including a utility box painting of Victor Glover that the astronaut said he saw and loved! <\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n