After 52 years since the last moon visit by humans, NASA’s ambitious Artemis program is gearing up for a significant milestone with Artemis II. This mission will involve four astronauts, including Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover, embarking on a journey around the moon. The scheduled launch date for this mission is no earlier than Feb. 6.
Prior to the historic trip, the rocket and spacecraft must undergo necessary checks. The notable event of rolling out the massive 100-meter tall Space Launch System (SLS) is set to take place on Saturday.
Expressing excitement for the upcoming mission, John Honeycutt, the Artemis II mission management team chair, highlighted, “These are the kind of days we live for. It really doesn’t get much better than this, and we’re making history.”
The Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft, which will serve as the living quarters for the astronauts during their 10-day mission, were previously launched for the uncrewed Artemis I mission around the moon in 2022. Now, they are prepared to carry human passengers.
While the crew of four will not land on the lunar surface, they will engage in lunar surveillance, experiments, and spacecraft testing to prepare for Artemis III, where astronauts are scheduled to walk on the moon, tentatively planned for a launch no earlier than 2028.
Awaited ‘Wet Dress’ Rehearsal
The rollout scheduled for Saturday at 7 a.m. ET will not be a swift journey to the pad. The five million-kilogram rocket will take approximately eight to 12 hours to reach its destination. According to Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, the Artemis launch director for exploration ground systems, it will take about an hour for the rocket to cross the threshold of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
During the rollout, the crew access arm, where the astronauts will enter the rocket on launch day, will be retracted, a process expected to take around 45 minutes.
Once the rocket is in position at the pad, the necessary connections will be established over the following day. Subsequently, preparations will commence for the wet dress rehearsal, simulating launch day conditions with propellant loading and all essential launch procedures. The countdown will halt at T-29 seconds.