Trevor Malman
The US space agency has spent a lot of time designing, developing, building and testing the Space Launch System rocket. When NASA created the rocket program in 2010, U.S. lawmakers said the SLS booster should be ready to launch in 2016.
Of course, this launch target and many others have come and gone. But now, after more than a decade and more than $ 20 billion in funding, NASA and its contractors’ litany are close to declaring the 111-meter rocket ready for its first launch.
On June 20, NASA successfully measured the rocket at T-29 seconds during a power test before launch. Although they did not reach the T-9 seconds as intended, the service engineers collected enough data to satisfy the information needed to proceed with the launch.
During two press conferences last week, NASA officials declined to set a launch target for the mission. However, in an interview with Ars on Tuesday, NASA Senior Exploration Officer Jim Free said the agency was working on a launch window from Aug. 23 through Sept. 6.
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“This is what we are aiming for,” Free said. “We would be foolish not to aim right now. We made incredible progress last week.”
The SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft then roll over to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center for final launch preparations, including the arming of the flight termination system. A team of technicians and engineers will also replace a seal in a “quick disconnect” where hydrogen leaks were observed during fuel loading.
This reset could begin as early as Thursday, Free said, and workers have made plans to process the vehicle during a relatively quick refresh. “This team knows exactly what to do when we return,” he said. “I do not think we are stretching ourselves to get there. We are probably pushing ourselves a little bit, but we are not going to do something stupid.” In this timetable, the SLS rocket could return to the launch pad in less than two months.
This Artemis I mission will not transport humans to the aircraft, but will serve as a test flight for the huge rocket, the largest one built by NASA from Saturn V, the organization it used to fly the Apollo program. A second mission, Artemis II, will fly a crew of four astronauts around the Moon. It will probably not happen before 2025. The first human landing on the Moon, Artemis III, will probably occur one or two years after the successful completion of Artemis II.
