NASA to roll out rocket for Artemis 2 moon mission on Jan. 17

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The first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years is expected to launch as early as February 6.

NASA announced Friday evening (January 9) its plans to launch the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft which will pilot the Artemis 2 lunar mission on the platform for pre-launch checks on January 17, weather and technical conditions permitting.

The specialized agency Tracked Transporter 2 The vehicle will transport the SLS-Orion stack from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Launch Pad 39B, a 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) journey that could take up to 12 hours.

“We are getting closer to Artemis 2, which is fast approaching deployment,” Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said in a statement. statement Friday.

“We have important steps left before launch, and the safety of the crew will remain our top priority at all times as we approach humanity’s return to the Moon,” she added.

Artemis 2 will send four astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch from NASA, as well as Jeremy Hansen from Canadian Space Agency — during a 10-day trip the moon and return to Earth.

Although it will not land or enter orbit around Earth’s nearest neighbor, Artemis 2 will mark humanity’s first journey to the lunar realms since Apollo 17 in December 1972.

Once the Artemis 2 stack reaches Pad 39B, technicians will subject the rocket and capsule to a variety of tests and verifications. Chief among these is a fueling test known as a wet dress rehearsal.

“During wet holding, teams demonstrate their ability to load more than 700,000 gallons [2.65 million liters] of cryogenic propellants in the rocket, perform a launch countdown, and practice removing the propellant from the rocket safely without astronauts on site,” NASA officials wrote in the statement.

Such tests do not always go smoothly. For example, wet dress rehearsals during the Artemis 1 the mission revealed leaks of liquid hydrogen, which required several returns to VAB to address.

The launch of Artemis 1 was significantly delayed, from spring 2022 to November of the same year. But the fixes worked: Artemis 1 was a success, sending a Orion into lunar orbit and return to Earth.

Once Artemis 2’s wetsuit is ready, mission team members will conduct a flight readiness review, which will assess the status of all systems required for a successful launch and mission around the moon. After this review, the team will announce an official launch date.

This date will be between February 6 and April 10. But that two-month window only contains 15 potential launch dates, NASA explained in Friday’s statement.

The agency divides the Artemis 2 launch window into three periods, each with a narrow set of possible liftoff dates:

• Launch period from January 31 to February 14: Launch opportunities on February 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11

• Launch period from February 28 to March 1: Launch opportunities on March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11

• Launch period from March 27 to April 10: Launch opportunities April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6

And there is no guarantee that the SLS, Orion and/or launch teams will be ready to attempt a launch on all of these “green” days.

“In addition to launch opportunities based on orbital mechanics and performance requirements, there are also limits on which days in a launch period can be viable based on raw material resupply, weather, and other users on the Eastern Chain schedule,” NASA officials said in the same statement. “Typically, up to four launch attempts can be attempted during an approximate week of opportunities existing during a launch period.”