NASA’s upcoming lunar mission Artemis I is about to roll slightly nearer to getting an official launch date. The stacked spacecraft and rocket have been cleared to trundle out to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday (March 17) for prelaunch assessments, NASA representatives introduced on Monday (March 14) at a press briefing.
The Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket — additionally known by NASA because the “Mega Moon rocket” — will make the 4-mile (6.4 kilometers) journey from Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39B, climate allowing. The rollout will begin at 5 p.m. native time, and the rocket will take roughly 11 hours to attain its vacation spot, carried by the Crawler-Transporter 2 at at a stately rolling velocity of 0.8 mph (1.3 km/h), Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program at Kennedy, mentioned on the briefing.
Once the spacecraft and rocket are positioned on the launch pad, engineers will take about two weeks to put together for what is generally known as a “wet dress rehearsal,” so named as a result of these assessments show that the rocket might be loaded with super-cold liquid propellants, according to NASA.
The “call to stations” for the moist gown rehearsal will probably be April 1, and tanking operations are anticipated to begin on April 3, Blackwell-Thompson mentioned. Engineers and technicians may also follow the launch countdown — to simply inside T minus 10 seconds — to take a look at the rocket’s responses to a flight termination situation, earlier than wrapping up the rehearsal, draining the gas tanks and making ready the rocket for its return to the VAB, which ought to take one other eight to 9 days, Blackwell-Thompson mentioned.
Related: NASA prepares ‘moonikin’ for spaceflight aboard 1st Artemis mission
NASA’s Orion spacecraft can maintain up to 4 individuals, however it will not have any people onboard when the Artemis I mission takes flight later this yr. In future Artemis missions, Orion will carry astronauts into area, maintain them throughout their moon missions, and maintain them secure throughout re-entry from deep area.
The spacecraft perches atop a beast of a rocket: SLS is probably the most highly effective rocket NASA has ever constructed. It produces 15% extra thrust throughout liftoff and ascent than the Saturn V rockets that flew in the course of the area applications of the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, and the SLS will probably be ready to carry greater than 27 tons (24,000 kilograms) to the moon, Live Science beforehand reported.
After the rollout — offered all assessments are efficiently accomplished — NASA will set an official launch date for Artemis I (at present listed as “no earlier than May 2022” on NASA’s launch schedule). Artemis I is an uncrewed mission that can fly hundreds of miles past the moon after which return to Earth after about three weeks. The subsequent a part of the mission, Artemis II, will carry a crew on a lunar flyby, and this system’s last stage, Artemis III, will convey individuals to the lunar floor for the primary time for the reason that Apollo 17 moonwalks in 1972.
With Artemis III, NASA will land the primary lady and the primary individual of colour on the moon. This milestone may also lay necessary groundwork for establishing a long-term human presence on the moon, and can play a pivotal position in an much more formidable area journey aim: sending the primary people to Mars.
“One of the things I told our team just today as we wrapped up the pre-test is: Take a moment,” Blackwell-Thompson mentioned. “Appreciate this moment, because being a first doesn’t come along that often in your career.”
Live protection for the Artemis I rollout begins on March 17 at 5 p.m. EDT. You can watch right here on Live Science, and on NASA TV, the NASA app and NASA’s website.
Originally printed on Live Science.
