NASA is poised to take a big step forward this week with the inaugural launch of its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, marking the official start of the Artemis era.
In a meeting with the mediaNASA said yesterday that it had completed its final checks and the SLS is finally ready on its launch pad. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA’s Artemis program launch manager, said: “We are in very good shape and ready to continue with the deployment Thursday night.” To which he added: “It’s going to be a wonderful sight, it’s going to be wonderful when we see that amazing Artemis vehicle cross the threshold of the Vehicle Assembly Building and see it outside for the first time”.
Weighing 85 tons, this rocket and the Orion capsule located on top of it will depart from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building on March 17. It will take between 6 and 12 hours to cover the 6.4 kilometers that separate it from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket’s arrival at the launch pad will set the stage for the vital wet test run, during which the rocket will be loaded with fuel and counted down to pause just before ignition. The wet trial test is currently scheduled for April 3.
According to SpaceNews, NASA cree that it will take more than eight hours to load the SLS with hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel, while loading the Space Shuttle required 2.5 hours, even though similar components were used. There are two reasons for this, as Blackwell-Thompson explained. First, “it’s a critical phase,” she said during the conference, and second, the SLS has one more upper section that needs fuel, and the loading process for this rocket needs to be done in stages.
At the end of the wet test, the tanks will be emptied and the rocket will return to the Vehicle Assembly Building for further testing and adjustments. NASA has yet to announce the date for its first launch, but it has already dropped that it might be between the next May 7 and 21. The inaugural launch will constitute the Artemis 1 mission, the first of the new Artemis lunar program that will eventually return humans to the Moon. It would also not be unusual for the Artemis 1 mission to be moved to June or July. NASA will be able to make its predictions better following the next test.
During launch, the rocket’s four RS-25 engines will provide 15% more thrust than the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket. Additionally, the SLS will be the tallest rocket to leave a NASA launch pad since the Apollo 17 mission.
The SLS project has already suffered countless delays, so you are definitely are good news. During the Artemis 1 mission, an unmanned Orion capsule will orbit the Moon and return to Earth. The Artemis 2 mission, scheduled for May 2024, will follow the same route, only with a human crew on board. And the big prize is still missing: the Artemis 3 mission, which will soon arrive in 2025, will be the one that brings two astronauts back to the lunar surface.
