NASA has put a rough few months behind it to officially conclude the testing for its Space Launch System (SLS). They will not conduct another fueling and countdown test of its moon rocket, but will simply repair the hydrogen leak that occurred during the last 30 seconds of the simulated launch.
The SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built and will serve as the engines for NASA’s Artemis program. The SLS rocket will be responsible for sending NASA back to the moon later in this decade. Following more than a decade of development and testing, the complete rocket and spacecraft were rolled out for the first time in March, with engineers then beginning preparation for what’s known as a wet dress rehearsal. This involved pumping more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the fuel tanks and running through a practice run of an entire countdown.
“We have completed the rehearsal phase, and everything we’ve learned will help improve our ability to lift off during the target launch window. The team is now ready to take the next step and prepare for launch,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Common Exploration Systems.
NASA plans to have the first launch later this August with Artemis I. It will be an unmanned launch and will send it in an orbit around the moon. Then it will be followed by Artemis II in 2024 with astronauts in an orbit around the moon but not land. Then around 2025, assuming that there are no more setbacks, they will put the first person on the moon in 53 years.
The SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built and will serve as the engines for NASA’s Artemis program. The SLS rocket will be responsible for sending NASA back to the moon later in this decade. Following more than a decade of development and testing, the complete rocket and spacecraft were rolled out for the first time in March, with engineers then beginning preparation for what’s known as a wet dress rehearsal. This involved pumping more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellants into the fuel tanks and running through a practice run of an entire countdown.
“We have completed the rehearsal phase, and everything we’ve learned will help improve our ability to lift off during the target launch window. The team is now ready to take the next step and prepare for launch,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Common Exploration Systems.
NASA plans to have the first launch later this August with Artemis I. It will be an unmanned launch and will send it in an orbit around the moon. Then it will be followed by Artemis II in 2024 with astronauts in an orbit around the moon but not land. Then around 2025, assuming that there are no more setbacks, they will put the first person on the moon in 53 years.
