NASA Rolls Artemis II Back to the Launch Pad and Prepares for April 1st Launch Window
Photo taken from inside the VAB as the SLS launch vehicle leaves the building and heads for LC-39B.
Image Credit: Asher B. / Launch Heaven Media
On Friday, March 20th, the SLS and Orion vehicle for Artemis II left the VAB and headed for LC-39B at 12:20 a.m. EDT. It later arrived at the launch pad at 11:21 a.m. EDT that morning. Originally supposed to roll at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 29th, it was delayed by several hours due to severe winds. This was an issue as not only could it cause harm to the vehicle, but in order to actually roll the vehicle out of the VAB, plywood must be placed down on the VAB’s concrete floor to avoid damage. This was not possible due to the winds continuing to blow the plywood away, as was visible from the ground at Kennedy Space Center. After the winds subsided a bit, the vehicle began its ~11 hour roll to the pad.
The vehicle spent just 22 days inside the Vehicle Assembly Building after it was rolled back from the launch pad on February 25th following the discovery of an issue with the pressurization of helium tanks on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) of the vehicle. Those are necessary for the upper stage to remain pressurized and for it to complete its mission. The only solution was rolling it back to fix it. The issue was determined to be a problem with the quick disconnect panel, and work was done to resolve the issue. While in the VAB, several systems were refreshed and tested. The vehicle's flight termination system (FTS) batteries were replaced along with batteries on other stages of the vehicle. Also replaced was a seal on the core stage liquid oxygen feed line, and a seal on the oxygen tail service mast umbilical plate was reassembled and tested to ensure a tight fit.
SLS illuminated by xenon spotlights while rolling from the VAB to LC-39B.
Image Credit: Asher B. / Launch Heaven Media
NASA is targeting April 1st at 6:24 a.m. EDT for launch of Artemis II on its planned 10-day mission around the Moon, carrying its four crew members, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen farther from Earth than humanity has ever gone before. There are launch windows everyday from April 1st until April 6th, and then another window on April 30th. On Artemis I, it took several launch attempts before the mission lifted off, but hopefully with the amount of preparation and recent work on the vehicle, it will launch on the first attempt without a hitch. Several members of the Launch Heaven team will be there to document this historic launch.
