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Just a few hours left, and in the Kennedy Space Centeron Cape Canaveral (Florida) everything is ready for a decisive test. If everything goes according to plan, around midnight (Spanish time) the enormous Space Launch System (SLS) of NASA will be deployed for the first time and will put its systems to the test to later make the dream of returning to the Moon a reality.
It is a simple test, indeed, but it is the culmination of long years of research and development, and the ‘penultimate’ step prior to launching the mission. Artemis Iwhich in just a few months will fly (although without astronauts on board) to our satellite carrying
the ship Orion. Later the mission Artemis II will take the first humans to the Moon, who will have the opportunity to fly over it, although not to land on it. And finally, in 2025, a human crew, including a woman and a black astronautThey will set foot on the Moon again for the first time since the Apollo 17 astronauts did it in 1972.
With its 111 meters in height and its 130 tons of weight, the dimensions of the rocket are truly impressive. Suffice it to think that it is taller, for example, than the Statue of Liberty, which from the pedestal to the torch ‘only’ reaches 93 meters. It is, in fact, the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA. According to the space agency, when the SLS takes off it will be capable of producing 15% more thrust than the Saturn V rockets that flew in the 1970s during the Apollo program. The SLS will also be able to carry up to 27 tons of cargo to the Moon.
After tonight’s test, and once all the necessary checks have been made, NASA will establish the official date for the takeoff of Artemis I, which is currently scheduled for “no earlier than May 2022.” The deployment will last between six and twelve hours, and includes the transportation of the SLS, known at NASA as the ‘Lunar Mega Rocket’, from the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39B, a route of 6.5 km and eleven hours of duration.
With the Orion spacecraft docked and already on the launch pad, it will take about two weeks for NASA engineers to prepare for what is known as ‘wet dress rehearsal‘, so named because these tests show that the rocket can be loaded with super-cold liquid propellants. Probably, said test will not begin until the first days of April.
Engineers and technicians will also practice counting down the launch, T minus 10 seconds, albeit short of ignition, to test the rocket’s response. Before the end of the test, the fuel tanks will be emptied and the rocket will be prepared for its return to the VAB, an operation that will take another eight to nine days.
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