As part of a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday, Feb. 27, the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the Moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least […]
Once NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft arrived at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) Feb. 25, technicians immediately began addressing why the flow of helium to the SLS upper stage was interrupted as engineers were reconfiguring the rocket following a successful wet dress rehearsal on Feb. 21. To make the […]
The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis II mission arrived at the Vehicle Assembly Building from Launch Pad 39B at approximately 8 p.m. EST Feb. 25, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While in the assembly building, technicians will troubleshoot the helium flow issue to the rocket’s upper stage, replace batteries on the rocket’s upper stage, core stage, and solid rocket boosters as well as service its flight termination […]
Editor’s Note: The launch director gave the “go” for rollback at 9:28 a.m. EST followed by first motion 10 minutes later. NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission began rolling off the launch pad at 9:38 a.m. EST, Feb. 25, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rolling from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy is expected to take […]
NASA is targeting approximately 9 a.m. EST, Wednesday, Feb. 25, to begin rolling the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad and back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams will continue to monitor winds and temperatures in advance […]
Due to weather, NASA now is targeting early Wednesday, Feb. 25, to roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad and back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Cold temperatures and high winds are expected Tuesday, and rolling […]
Weather pending, NASA will roll the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Tuesday, Feb. 24. Engineers are continuing to prepare for the move after encountering an issue with the flow of helium to the rocket’s […]
Editor’s note: NASA has updated an earlier version of this blog to provide additional details. NASA is taking steps to potentially roll back the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after overnight Feb. 21 observing interrupted flow of helium to the […]
NASA is targeting no earlier than Friday, March 6, for the launch of Artemis II, pending completion of required work at the launch pad, analysis of test data, and the outcome of a Flight Readiness Review in the coming days. The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon during the test flight entered quarantine […]
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 […]
