NASA is targeting March 6 for the launch of the Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon. The mission is a significant step towards returning humans to the lunar surface and eventually sending them to Mars.
With a successful fueling test behind them, NASA managers on Friday said the agency has a good shot at launching the Artemis II mission on March 6, sending four astronauts on a long-awaited trip around the moon.
Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen are expected to enter pre-flight medical quarantine Friday evening at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Assuming a two-day flight readiness review next week confirms all systems are “go” for launch, the astronauts will fly to the Kennedy Space Center on March 1 to begin final preparations and enjoy a bit of private time with their families.
They will be the first astronauts to be shot into space by a gargantuan SLS rocket, the most powerful operational launcher in the world. They will be the first to fly aboard an Orion deep space crew capsule and the first people to leave low-Earth orbit for a trip to the moon in more than half a century.
Getting through a second “wet dress rehearsal” countdown on Thursday marked a major step in that direction. “Following that successful wet dress yesterday, we’re now targeting March 6 as our earliest launch attempt,” said Lori Glaze, manager of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars Program.
The practice countdown started Tuesday night and ended late Thursday after engineers successfully loaded the SLS rocket with more than 750,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel. The team then carried out two problem-free runs through the last 10 minutes of the countdown, ending with a cutoff at T-minus 29 seconds as planned.
The smooth-running test stood in sharp contrast to an initial dress rehearsal earlier this month that was derailed by major hydrogen leaks during fueling.
Those leaks were detected in a cavity between the umbilical plates where 8-inch and 4-inch hydrogen lines enter the base of the SLS first stage. That cavity is purged with inert nitrogen gas during fueling and during the first practice run earlier this month, hydrogen concentrations close to NASA’s 16 percent safety limit were noted.
Conclusion
NASA’s Artemis II mission is a significant step towards returning humans to the lunar surface and eventually sending them to Mars. With the successful fueling test and the targeting of March 6 for the launch, the agency is one step closer to achieving its goal. For more information on NASA’s Artemis program and the latest updates on the mission, visit the official NASA website.
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