The test campaign for NASA’s super-large, super-expensive space launch system has now been completed, the agency said Friday. All that’s left now for the rocket is to launch the Artemis I demonstration mission to the moon, the first in a long series of missions planned to return humans to the lunar surface in the middle of the decade. The launch could take place as early as the end of August, NASA officials said.
The agency will roll back the 322-foot-tall rocket and the Orion spacecraft into the vehicle assembly building, an assembly hangar at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on July 1 or 2, where all two will be ready for release. From there, the agency will have about six to eight weeks of work ahead of what should be the final launch, John Blevins, chief engineer of the space launch system program, said Friday. Once SLS returns to the launch pad, officials will spend 10 to 14 days preparing for takeoff, added Cliff Lanham, senior director of vehicle operations for ground exploration systems.
NASA stated that the “wet dress test” (WDR), as the large number of tests is called, was completed despite a hydrogen leak problem that caused launch controllers to stop the countdown to T -29 seconds (officers intended to count down to T-9.34 seconds, just before the engine started).
The leak was detected at the hydrogen purge line during the propellant charging process, when hundreds of thousands of gallons of cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen were being loaded into the tanks. But despite the leakage problems, the agency was able to load the tanks from the two stages of rockets with propellant and then empty them, important test pieces that the agency had yet to launch.
SLS test checklist. Image credits: NASA (opens in new window)
Although officials did not give an exact release date, Tom Whitmeyer, associate associate administrator for the development of common exploration systems, said things look good by the end of August.
“We feel that overcoming the wet suit was an important milestone for us,” she said. “It gives us some confidence that we’re still on the right track.”
The inaugural release of SLS this year would mark 12 years. It was originally envisioned by Congress and NASA as a replacement for the space shuttle. It is now designated as the launch system that will eventually return humans to the Moon, not a small honor, all things considered.