Artemis

NASA successfully fueled its SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and demonstrated the launch countdown for Artemis II on Thursday during a wet dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.   Engineers loaded more than 700,000 gallons of liquid propellant into the rocket, sent a closeout crew to the launch pad to demonstrate closing the Orion spacecraft’s hatches, and completed two runs of terminal count — the final phase of the launch countdown. The Artemis II crew also observed part of […]

Live updates for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal will be published on this page. Live views of the launch pad and test are available online. All times are Eastern. 10:18 p.m. The Artemis II wet dress rehearsal ended today at 10:16 p.m., concluding as planned at T-29 seconds in the countdown. NASA will hold […]

NASA continues to press ahead through the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal countdown – a fueling test of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. Early this morning, at approximately 3 a.m. EST, teams powered up the rocket’s core stage, which will be loaded with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen during […]

The countdown for the Artemis II wet dress rehearsal is underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The countdown clock began at 6:50 p.m. EST Tuesday, or L-49 hours, 40 minutes before the opening of a simulated launch window at 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 19. The test is expected to go until approximately 12:30 […]

NASA is targeting Thursday, Feb. 19, as the tanking day for the second wet dress rehearsal ahead of the agency’s Artemis II test flight. Over the weekend, teams replaced a filter in ground support equipment that was suspected of reducing the flow of liquid hydrogen during a Feb. 12 partial fueling test. The test provided […]

As part of robustly testing the vehicle prior to flight, NASA engineers are reviewing data after a confidence test Feb. 12, in which operators partially filled the SLS (Space Launch System) core stage liquid hydrogen tank to assess newly replaced seals in an area used to fill the rocket with propellant. During the test, teams […]

Since concluding a wet dress rehearsal Feb. 3 ahead of Artemis II, technicians have replaced two seals in an area where operators saw higher than allowable hydrogen gas concentrations during the test. Engineers are analyzing the removed seals and developing plans to address all issues ahead of the next rehearsal. Once the SLS (Space Launch […]

NASA conducted a news conference on Tuesday, Feb. 3, to discuss initial findings from the recently completed Artemis II wet dress rehearsal test. Participants included:

NASA concluded a wet dress rehearsal for the agency’s Artemis II test flight early Tuesday morning, successfully loading cryogenic propellant into the SLS (Space Launch System) tanks, sending a team out to the launch pad to closeout Orion, and safely draining the rocket. The wet dress rehearsal was a prelaunch test to fuel the rocket, designed to […]

The Artemis II wet dress rehearsal countdown was terminated at the T-5:15 minute mark due to a liquid hydrogen leak at the interface of the tail service mast umbilical, which had experienced high concentrations of liquid hydrogen earlier in the countdown, as well. The launch control team is working to ensure the SLS (Space Launch […]