New Delhi: NASA has rolled out the Artemis II rocket to Launch Pad 39B. The journey by the ‘crawler’ from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad took place over a course of 12 hours, moving at 1.3 kmph to cross a distance of 6.4 km. After exiting the high-bay doors of the VAB, the rocket paused while teams repositioned the crew access arm, which is a bridge that provides astronauts and closeout crew access to the Orion Crew Capsule nested on top of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Over the next few days, engineers and technicians will prepare the Artemis II rocket for the wet dress rehearsal.
The wet dress rehearsal is a test of the fuelling operations and the countdown procedures. The wet here stands for loading of the rocket with the fuel, with the tests proceeding right till the point of ignition. The wet dress rehearsal is scheduled for no sooner than 2 February, when the rocket will be tanked up with super-cold propellants, or cryogenic fuel, running through the countdown, and will then be drained completely. All of these are essential steps before the first crewed flight of the SLS rocket with the Orion capsule.
The Artemis II mission
NASA may opt for additional wet dress rehearsals to ensure that the rocket is completely checked out and ready for the flight. NASA may even opt to rollback the SLS rocket and the Orion crew capsule to the VAB for additional work after the wet dress rehearsal. The Artemis II mission will see NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey to Moon orbit and back. The Artemis II mission will be followed by the Artemis III mission, which will see the return of American boots on the surface of the Moon after a period of more than 50 years.