In the last 52 years, humans have not visited the moon, but now, NASA’s ambitious Artemis program is gearing up for a significant milestone with Artemis II. This upcoming mission will involve four astronauts – Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover – who will orbit the moon. The launch is currently planned for no earlier than Feb. 6.
Before the astronauts embark on their historic journey, both the rocket and spacecraft must undergo thorough checks. The rollout of the massive 100-meter tall Space Launch System (SLS) is scheduled for Saturday, as announced by John Honeycutt, the Artemis II mission management team chair, during a press conference held on Friday.
The SLS and the Orion spacecraft, which will serve as the astronauts’ home for 10 days, were previously launched only once for the uncrewed Artemis I mission around the moon in 2022. Now, they are prepared to carry four human passengers.
Although the astronauts will not land on the lunar surface during Artemis II, they will engage in lunar surveillance, experiments, and spacecraft testing to pave the way for Artemis III, where astronauts are planned to walk on the moon, tentatively scheduled for no earlier than 2028.
The scheduled rollout on Saturday at 7 a.m. ET will see the five million-kilogram rocket make a slow journey to the pad over eight to 12 hours. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director, explained that it will take approximately an hour for the rocket to pass through the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), with the crew access arm retracting in around 45 minutes.
Once at the pad, all necessary connections will be established over the following day. Subsequently, the wet dress rehearsal will take place, simulating a launch day scenario where the rocket is fueled up, and all launch preparations are rehearsed until T-29 seconds before launch.
Wet dress rehearsals are vital practice sessions, ensuring that all procedures run smoothly before a launch is given the go-ahead. For instance, Artemis I underwent four wet dress rehearsals spread across several months before receiving clearance for launch.
During the press conference, Blackwell-Thompson addressed concerns about the timing of the Feb. 2 wet dress rehearsal in relation to the Feb. 6 launch window, emphasizing the lessons learned from Artemis I as a test flight.
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