NASA began conducting a major fueling test for its Artemis II mission on Monday, the agency said, in a key rehearsal that could pave the way to return astronauts to the vicinity of the moon for the first time since 1972.
Engineers will fully fuel the Space Launch System rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, simulating the major steps the team will perform on launch day.
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The goal is to ensure Artemis II’s Boeing Co. Space Launch System rocket and its Lockheed Martin Corp. Orion spacecraft can take off on a 10-day journey to fly by the moon and return home.
During the test, which NASA calls a wet dress rehearsal, teams will practice loading ice-cold fuel into the rocket, conducting a launch countdown and safely removing the propellant.
The earliest opportunity to launch is Feb. 8, but NASA will wait to set an official launch date until the rehearsal is complete.
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During the test, the engineering team will stop short of firing up the rocket’s engines because the boosters can only ignite once, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who recently retired from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“The wet dress is not quite the gold standard, but it’s as good as you can get given the physical design,” he said.
In development for about a decade and a half, the SLS is over budget and behind schedule. Each launch costs more than $4 billion.
Artemis II will be only the second flight for the SLS and Orion, following their debut in 2022 for the uncrewed Artemis I. That first mission required several wet dress rehearsals due to technical issues.
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The crew of NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen will not be present for Monday’s rehearsal since they need to quarantine before takeoff.
Their mission will test Orion’s life-support systems before Artemis III launches a crewed lunar landing, a trip planned for no later than 2028.