NASA concluded this Friday the transfer of the huge SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft direct from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (Florida), from which the artemis moon mission 1 on November 14.
The operation began around midnight, after the replacement of the technicians and will recharge the batteries of the rocket, and it ended smoothly around 8:30 am, according to the US space agency.
Technicians will now continue to prepare ships for the mission to verify the operation of the SLS rocket, the ship of Orion and ground support teams have already paved the way for the lunar exploration long-term from Mars.
The SLS rocket, in which NASA has invested more than 4 billion dollarsit’s taller than a 30-story building (322 feet or 98 meters), so moving it isn’t an easy task.
The arduous transfer of the Artemis rocket
This Friday’s journey lasted almost nine hours: a large diesel-powered tracked vehicle positioned under the platform and the mobile rocket tower moved very slowly towards the Platform 6.8 km away
That of November 14 will be the fourth attempt launch date of this mission, initially scheduled for 29 August. On that day and on September 3, the trip was canceled due to leaking hydrogen tanks liquid.
The rocket remained on the launch pad waiting for a new opportunity to take off on September 27, but this time it was supposed to be cancel the trip due to Hurricane Ian.
Then it had to be moved back to the hangar to protect it from Ian’s winds, which landed with a wind speed of 240 km / h in southwest Florida on September 28 and crossed the central part of the peninsula from west to east to exit the Atlantic.
NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Development, Jim freesaid yesterday, Thursday, during a conference call that preparations are “going well” for the take-off of this mission with which the US space agency tries to prepare the future expedition of astronauts to the terrestrial satellite.
Free said I’m looking for a big one low pressure system that this weekend could trigger a tropical storm over the northeastern Caribbean Sea and that would eventually move to Florida.
When do you launch the Artemis 1 rocket to the moon?
The date of the fourth launch attempt remains the November 14 and the 69-minute take-off window will open at 12:07 local time (05:07 GMT).
If there are no accidents, the Orion ship will a 25 day bareboat trip and a half that will end on December 9, when it falls into the Pacific Ocean.
If the 14 does not come out, there is a chance to try always on 16 and 19 November and, already in December, a period between 9 and 23.
The goal of the first Artemis mission is test the capabilities of the SLS and the Orion spacecraft before a manned voyage expected in principle for 2024, which will be followed by a third in which for the first time since 1972 American astronauts, including a woman and a black person, will step on the lunar surface.
The Artemis program aims to lay the foundation for a long-term lunar presence and serve as a springboard for send astronauts to Mars. EFE
Source: Clarin
