NASA’s first new moon rocket since the Apollo-era’s mighty Saturn V is again on the launch pad for a essential fueling check this month and you’ll see live views proper now without cost.
The company’s first Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which is scheduled to launch the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the moon in August, is on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida for a three-day fueling check that may start on June 18. NASA rolled the rocket to the pad on June 6 and has been streaming live views ever since on the KSC Newsroom YouTube (opens in new tab) channel.
The SLS rocket’s Artemis 1 fueling check, which NASA calls a “wet dress rehearsal,” is a essential check to make sure that the company can gas the large rocket for launch and that its techniques are prepared for its deliberate journey to the moon. Artemis 1 will launch an Orion spacecraft round the moon as an uncrewed shakedown cruise.
Live updates: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission defined in pictures
(*1*)
“During the test, the launch teams will rehearse operations to load propellant into the rocket’s tanks, conduct a full launch countdown, demonstrate the ability to recycle the countdown clock, and drain the tanks to give them an opportunity to practice the timelines and procedures they will use for launch,” NASA officers mentioned in a statement (opens in new tab)Friday (June 10).
NASA tried to carry out the check in April a number of instances, however was unable to totally full the process due to points loading gas into the rocket’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. They discovered that unfastened bolts led to a hydrogen leak in umbilical strains between the stage and the SLS’s Mobile Launch Platform. A helium examine valve on the stage additionally had to get replaced.
Engineers have since repaired these points and are as soon as once more prepared to try the fueling check, NASA has mentioned.
“The rehearsal is the final test needed before launch and will begin at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday, June 18 with ‘call to stations,’ when members of the launch control team will arrive at their consoles to start the approximately two-day countdown,” the company mentioned in the assertion. If all goes properly, NASA will totally gas the Artemis 1 moon rocket on June 20.
NASA will maintain a press convention on Wednesday (June 15) to focus on the June 18 begin of the moist gown rehearsal check. A broadcast on June 20 will present live views fueling (which NASA calls “tanking”) starting at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT), with a goal check window opening at 2:40 p.m. EDT (1840 GMT).
The house company will maintain a follow-up press convention on June 21at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) to focus on the outcomes of the check.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@house.com or comply with him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
