The team began pulling out the “kitchen drawer” platform surrounding the first rocket that would launch NASA’s Artemis mission to month.
Retracting the platform surrounding the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida is an important step towards safely sending rockets and spacecraft to the launch pad on March 17 before the launch of Artemis 1, which was expected to happen. Not before May.
unoccupied Artemis 1 This will send the Orion spacecraft around the moon, to ensure that SLS and Orion are ready for manned missions. first crew Artemis The Artemis 2 mission will send astronauts around the moon in 2024, if all goes according to plan. Artemis 3 will land humans on the moon no later than 2025, although the launch is likely to take place in 2026. some issues Designated by the Inspector General of NASA.
NASA said on March 2 that the focus for now is Artemis 1, and preparations are continuing to prepare for the launch of SLS and Orion. posting blog. “The team continues to install hardware on the dual SLS solid rocket boosters inside the VAB,” the post reads, referring to the sprawling Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC.
Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission is described in the picture
These sensors will allow engineers to virtually pilot rockets and spacecraft as they sail the four miles (6.5 kilometers) to Launch Complex 39B and monitor mission progress as they prepare for launch.
Once aboard, the SLS-Orion stack will send a wealth of data about systems including rockets, spacecraft, and ground equipment. Fuel loading and other pad activity will also be recorded.
The SLS-Orion stack still needs to go through the files wet workout – Testing of most of the steps to be completed on launch day – to be ready for takeoff. Artemis 1 has been launched I paid several times Due to technical problems and other scheduling factors. Practice is scheduled for about two weeks after Artemis 1 arrives on the plate, putting action at the end of March at the earliest.
If the Artemis program is successful, it will be the first in a series of missions to put a man on the moon since the half a dozen Apollo flights that landed on the moon between 1969 and 1972. The 50th anniversary of the last manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17, Precisely in December 2022.
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