NASA Artemis 1 Moon Rocket Undergoing ‘Critical’ Series of Tests This Weekend in Preparation for This Year’s Launch

Officials at NASA recently held a call with reporters announcing that the Space Launch System rocket that will fly the Artemis 1 moon space agency mission is at the pad for a critical series of tests this coming weekend.

Space.com reported that according to NASA, the said series of tests comprise a launch stimulation called the "wet dress rehearsal."

Essentially, the Artemis 1 stack, the SLS, and an Orion crew capsule were rolled out at the Kennedy Space Center of NASA in Florida earlier this month.

Since the rollout, the mission teams have completed ground communication verifications leading up to the wet dress, slated to start on June 18.

Artemis 1

The moon rocket will be the first to take off for the SLS and send an uncrewed Orion around the moon and back. Moreover, this is the second time Artemis 1 is at the pad for a wet dress rehearsal, a launch simulation involving fueling the rocket and running through the procedures of an actual countdown, "right up until T-10 seconds," the said report specified.

NASA attempted to carry out the wet dress in early April, trying to fuel up the SLS thrice separately over the period of multiple days.

However, the moon mission team decided to roll the Artemis stack to the Vehicle Assembly building of KSC in late April, following a hydrogen leak, and other issues prevented fueling of the rocket, eventually scrubbing every attempt.

Essential Repairs to the SLS Made

A similar True Viral News report said that over the period of about one month, teams of NASA's KSC in Florida were able to make the essential repairs to the SLS vehicle and linked ground systems, as well as a jump start on some upgrades that had been initially scheduled following the wet dress rehearsal.

According to the associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA, Jim Free, they fixed some things around the site where they saw the hydrogen leak.

The time in the VAB gave technicians a chance to enhance loading operations for SLS as well; through the use of "knowhow from the space shuttle days," explained Free, teams n the VAB were able to automate and update some procedures for filling the cryogenic fuel tanks of the rocket.

Free complimented the Exploration Ground System teams, as well as the other Artemis-focused NASA departments, for their outstanding planning "to save as much of this year's launch periods" as they can, so they can get the vehicle going and understand how it operates.

The NASA official also emphasized that SLS is still a new vehicle, and while officials are hopeful for an Artemis1 launch attempt in late August, a successful wet dress rehearsal needs to forego the liftoff.

Artemis 1 Going Through Tests

According to Artemis launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, with the Exploration Ground Systems Program at KSC, The Artemis 1 stack has spent the past week at Pad 39B, going through validation tests.

Over a few days after the return of Artemis 1 to the pad, teams worked to verify services and connectivity between the SLS mobile launch program and the command and control systems in the launch control center NASA, as specified in a similar Satellite News Network report.

Furthermore, this past weekend, teams carried out booster servicing procedures, completing hypergolic fuel loading for the booster hydraulic power unit, which provides the thrust-vector control of the rocket during flight.

Related information about the Artemis 1 Moon Rocket is shown on CBS Mornings' YouTube video below:

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