After months of careful preparation, NASA The Space Launch System rocket is 32 stories tallThe world’s most powerful operational booster began its 4-mile journey to the launch pad early Saturday, setting the stage for a long-awaited flight next month to send four astronauts on a journey around the moon.
The 5.7 million-pound rocket, carried by an upgraded Apollo-era crawler carrier that tips the scales at about 6 million pounds, began the journey to pad 39B just after 7 a.m. local time, creeping out of the ground. NASAThe cavernous vehicle assembly building with a top speed of just under 1 mph.
The Space Launch System rocket, along with NASA’s Orion crew capsule, rolled out of Kennedy Space Center’s massive Vehicle Assembly Building early Saturday for the 4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B. If all goes well, NASA plans to launch the rocket in early February to send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back. /Credit: William Harwood/CBS News
Hundreds of space center workers, family members and guests gathered near the VAB and along the crawl space to take selfies and enjoy a cool Saturday morning as the towering moon rocket slowly passed by.
New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the Artemis 2 astronauts — Commander Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — were also on hand to witness the momentous event.
“Great. Let’s go!!!” Weissman posted on the social media platform X a photo of the SLS rocket exiting the VAB. In another post, he called the SLS and its Orion crew capsule “engineering art.”
Generating about 8.8 million pounds of thrust upon liftoff, the SLS system is the most powerful rocket ever operated by NASA, including the agency’s legendary Saturn 5 moon rocket. The rocket has just over half the thrust of SpaceX’s Super Heavy-Starship rocket, but after a successful uncrewed test flight in 2022 — Artemis I — NASA deemed it safe enough to put astronauts on board.
The SpaceX rocket is still in the testing phase, and it is not known when it might make its first flight with people on board.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the Artemis II crew take questions from reporters as the SLS rolls onto the launch pad. From left to right: NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens, Isaacman, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Artemis II commander Reed Wiseman. / Credit: NASA
The Artemis II crew plans to launch in early February to test drive their Orion crew capsule into Earth orbit before heading into deep space on a circumnavigation of the moon that will take them farther from Earth than any astronauts have ever ventured. In the process, they will get a chance to observe the far side of the Moon in some detail.
“I think one of the most magical things for me about this experience is when I looked up a few days ago, and there was a beautiful crescent (moon) at sunrise in the morning, and I could see the really far side,” Weissman told reporters during the SLS launch. “It was a waning crescent here, so it’s a waxing gibbous on the far side.”
He added: “And you just think about all the features we were studying on that far side, and how amazing that would look, and seeing the Earth rising, and things like that, just turning the moon over and seeing it from the other perspective is what I think of when I look (at the moon) now.”
Once the SLS rocket is firmly settled in Launch Complex 39B — the trip to the coastal pad was expected to take between 8 and 10 hours — engineers will begin about two weeks of tightly scripted tests and checks before a critical fueling test around February 2 when nearly 800,000 gallons of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen will be pumped aboard the rocket for a “wet” rehearsal countdown.
“One of the first things that happens after we get to the pad is we get through…all the checks, get back into the firing room, and get ready to power up the individual elements,” said Charlie Blackwell Thompson, launch manager. “We’re going to get our crew module going (and) we’re going to power everything up.”
Blackwell-Thompson added: “We’ve been testing all of this gradually offline or in the VAB integrated environment, and now we’re just getting out on the platform and testing those board interfaces. … The wetsuit is the big test on the platform. I think that’s the test that should be monitored, and that’s the driver that should be fired.”
Another view of the SLS rocket at the start of its 4-mile journey to Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. /Credit: Miles Duran/CBS News
The SLS rocket’s maiden flight in 2022 has been delayed several times due to propellant loading problems and persistent hydrogen leaks. For the rocket’s second flight, NASA and its contractor team implemented multiple upgrades and procedural changes to reduce or eliminate any such problems the second time around.
“I was a test flight for Artemis, and we learned a lot during that launch campaign,” Blackwell-Thompson said. “And the things that we’ve learned in terms of how to load this vehicle, how to load (liquid oxygen), how to load hydrogen, have all been integrated into the way we intend to load the Artemis II vehicle.”
Due to the relative positions of Earth and the Moon, along with the trajectory NASA plans to use for Artemis 2, the agency only has five launch opportunities in February: February 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Since the launch came a few days later than scheduled, pushing the refueling test into early February, it appears that only the last three opportunities are still available.
But a leak-free fueling test, in the absence of any other major issues, will set the stage for a launch attempt on one or two of those days. If not, the next set of launch windows will open in March.
An important aspect of mission planning is the launch of a new crew to the International Space Station to replace the four crew members who returned to Earth ahead of schedule on Thursday due to a medical problem affecting one of the astronauts. This launch was scheduled for February 15, but NASA managers are looking to postpone it by several days to reduce the gap between the crews.
NASA flight controllers want to avoid flying two spacecraft at the same time. If the space station crew’s replacement flight remains on track, or if problems are found during the SLS refueling test, agency managers may have to delay the Artemis II launch to the next set of opportunities in March.
But Isaacman is keeping NASA’s options open.
“I think we have no intention of announcing an actual launch date until we finish the wetsuits,” he said. “But look, this is our first window, and if everything goes accordingly, I know the teams are ready, and I know this crew is ready. We’ll accept that.”
New details are emerging about how Renee Goode died
The tape of the woman’s last words overturns the husband’s account of the accidental shooting